China Asks For Face Scans Before Allowing Users To Use Phone Services

China never stops leveraging its strict rules on digital privacy. Recently, the Chinese government released a controversial act that requires users to scan the face before signing up for phone services in the country. This means if you’re living in China, you have to get your real identities linked with the digital world. For example, a national ID card is not enough for registering a digital service contract as usual: you must submit a face scan.

For anyone who doesn’t obey this requirement, he/she actually won’t be able to sign up for a cellular data contract or purchase a new cellphone. On the positive side, it’s systematically meant to shoot down the number of frauds. However, many believe that this mechanism also lessens your “anonymous status” when using the phone and the government, especially Chinese authorities, will find it much easier to silence dissenters.

China has long been accused of allegedly tracking and suppressing ethnic minorities with the use of facial recognition technology. Truth to be told, the government also virtually use it to stalk individuals and tighten their behavior standards once they’re under the scope of its blacklist.

It remains unclear about how China will use these face scans after processing verification, but if the authorities want to make use of it for surveillance, people will find it hard to keep their own privacy. Recently, a university in China controversially deployed facial recognition to analyze student attendance, and the government did promise to tone down such things.