From airports, docks, supermarkets to the streets, facial recognition technology has crept into every aspect of life in China.

Facial recognition technology has grown at a rapid pace when the public has come to trade privacy for convenience and convenience. But a new law introduced last week that requires new cell phone users to register their faces is causing Chinese people to question whether the technology has gone too far?

"The consequences if the face data is leaked are extremely serious," said Wang Junxia, 23, an office worker in Beijing. "What I'm interested in is whether such registration is appropriate and whether the process is capable of protecting user face data?".

Wang is not the only one worried. According to an online survey conducted by China Daily last month, 65% of participants said they objected to the use of facial recognition technology in public spaces. A survey last week by the Nam Do Personal Information Protection Research Center in Beijing showed that 74% of participants said they wanted to choose a traditional identification method instead of a face recognition.

Under the new law, anyone who registers a new SIM must send a face scan and telecommunications companies are required to use "artificial intelligence and other technical methods" to verify their identity. use.

Wang Min, 40, a housewife in Beijing, said the new law, effective December 1, was "not a big deal" because facial recognition technology is so popular now. But, she also worries about data security.

"I just hope the technology has matured, all the rules are clear and the data will not leak like what happened to Twitter," Wang said.

China, meanwhile, is facing tough global censorship processes involving the use of facial recognition technology and other surveillance technologies.

In October, the United States blacklisted several Chinese technology companies such as Dahua, Hikvision, iFLYTEK and SenseTime, accusing it of abetting large-scale surveillance of Uyghur Muslim minorities in Tan province. Cuong.

In addition, China's attempt to set international guidelines for the surveillance equipment industry has fueled the debate. Dahua, ZTE and China Telecom are submitting new international standards to the International Telecommunication Union, an organization linked to the United Nations.

Chinese companies have exported AI-controlled surveillance technology to 63 countries, more than the US or Japan. Proposing industry standards will give them even more advantages.

Even so, experts assess facial recognition technology will still flourish in China, especially when the government often cited reasons of safety and public order to deploy them.

For example, the requirement for facial recognition with mobile phones is to combat online frauds and scams, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Or as in Shanghai, the city government has shown the faces of traffic offenders on LED screens at intersections as a deterrent.

The Shanghai Cancer Center has applied facial recognition technology to prevent crooks from selling medical appointments online. Hospitals in major cities in China are often overloaded by patients from rural areas who now tend to "buy" doctor appointments to avoid long waits.

In Beijing, subway operators plan to use facial recognition technology to conduct security checks at overcrowded stations. A "trust system" will divide passengers into two categories, local media reported. Those on the "whitelist" will be more easily approved while those on the "whitelist" will have to undergo additional testing.

The proposal immediately received a wave of criticism on Chinese social networking sites and the subway operator said it was not planning to immediately implement the plan.

Several other applications have caused similar backlash. In October, a professor at Zhejiang University of Science and Technology sued Hangzhou Wildlife Park for using facial recognition technology to control zoo entry and exit for allegedly violating human rights. consumption.

According to Zhao Zhanling, a cybersecurity lawyer at Beijing-based Zhilin law firm, public confusion about facial recognition technology is "entirely plausible".

"Many companies in China are very bad at protecting personal data, even some companies intentionally leak customers' information," Zhao said.

China Central Television (CCTV) recently reported that more than 5,000 portraits of Chinese citizens were sold online for $ 1.4 each. The incident created a wave of outrage online China Daily also called for an investigation.

However, according to Zhou, it is too early to know whether public protest will help turn the situation around. Shi Jingyuan, a partner at the Shenzhen office of law firm Simmons & Simmons, shared the same opinion.

"I think the Chinese public does not completely reject facial recognition technology," Shi said. "It also depends on what users get back from trading in privacy." Most will accept facial recognition for public safety reasons but scanning their faces to enter a zoo will be strongly opposed, she judged.

"Anyway, the widespread development of facial recognition technology is inevitable," Shi said. "Some countries accelerate faster, others slower. But ultimately, we will all have to live with it."