Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash
The answer to above question is straight forward, it’s China. In this article, I want to summarize how China is doing by separating it into three categories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
The Good:
China uses the facial recognition tech to provide citizen with services. For example, if you are running a marathon and need your pictures to be clicked, then you simply sign up for services that will facially recognize you and send all your digital copies at the end of marathon. This is very simple and at the same time very complex service where China scores. I have to say China scores instead of a specific tech company, as most of the big giants in China do have government backing, without which they can’t provide many services that requires digital tapping.
Face recognition commercialization:
— Connie Chan (@conniechan) April 25, 2018
1. Upload a selfie to wechat official account.
2. Run Shanghai half-marathon.
3. Within hours get back photos of yourself (from 000’s of pics by freelance photographers).
4. Pay $1 to buy unwatermarked images.
(c/o Neil Nand) pic.twitter.com/us94xWR1eN
Another example is easy access in and out of parking lot.
Image recognition commercialization in China:
— Connie Chan (@conniechan) April 29, 2018
License plate scan so you can pay and exit a parking garage in SECONDS. No paper ticket, dongle or anything.
In SF, half the time my arm is too short to reach the machine. pic.twitter.com/kKcQHAWqlX
The Bad:
Social Credit System is reputation based system being developed in China to replace the Credit Reporting System to rate its citizens. Using this information, government can literally blacklist people from specific government services like driving license based on how you are driving!. This not only requires tapping into every aspect of citizen’s daily activity but also to bring together surveillance based data that usually will require facial recognition.
This way China is able to bring two systems together to create very robust surveillance infrastructure. Such services are neither good nor ugly, but bad to those who aren’t going to be liability. This is exactly what even an episode of Black Mirror showed.
The Ugly:
The ugliest usage of facial tech in China is 24×7 surveillance. Whether you are a citizen or just a tourist in China, you are being watched 24×7, tracked and followed by cameras everywhere to ensure you aren’t a threat. Though it makes sense to do this in order to provide a safe environment, however the major issue with this is that privacy is no where to be found. Everything you do is being logged. Add all the digital traces in form of digital payments, internet activity etc, and you get a near perfect Total Information Awareness.
On one hand China wants to provide services using facial tech and on other hand it also wants to tap into everyone’s daily activity? What do you think about this? I think India is also heading towards similar system.
