Imagine walking into an international airport, completing self-check-in, self-baggage-check-in and then striding through security, with no one stopping you till just before you board — and only because Covid-19 protocol requires physical distancing. That is how easy it is for Chinese nationals to travel through Guangzhou’s Baiyun International Airport, the third busiest in the country.

This kind of seamless rail and bus travel has been a norm in many Chinese cities for a couple of years, and it is all owing to indigenously designed facial recognition systems. These systems have been installed in supermarkets too, providing relief to busy working women. “No need now to wait in a long line,’’ said the 33-year-old Xinyu, who can only shop after a long working day.

The demand for such systems went up rapidly after the coronavirus struck. In February itself, Guangzhou installed facial recognition thermometers in buses. As passengers swiped their bus cards, the thermometer scanned their faces, took their temperature and reported it to the driver. Urban residential communities also started installing the software too in order to reduce the physical use of objects and to limit visitors. For the elderly, this came as a boon. “No need to carry keys, cards or wallets,’’ smiled an old woman out for daily tai chi on a winter morning. As young people stayed locked inside, Tencent used facial recognition to detect underage players as they logged in to Tencent Games.

The ban imposed by the United States of America on cyber technology originating from China in May only pushed the companies to innovate. In June, Lenovo introduced a laptop with facial recognition technology. Companies upgraded their software to recognize even masked faces through the iris and forehead; this was used on campuses when they reopened and also on Beijing’s subways.

No escape

But now, the bubble has burst. Facial recognition software is the new Enemy Number One. In November, a court in the provincial capital of Hangzhou ordered a park to compensate one of its regular visitors and delete his facial information. The member had sued the park after it insisted on his facial information for the activation of his annual admission card. His objections and requests that his card be cancelled and admission fee refunded were rejected. When he became a member last year, the park had taken his fingerprints and photograph; by making this new demand, the park was in breach of contract, he argued. The court agreed with him, but refused to invalidate the park’s new rule making biometric information the only form of admission.

The case provoked a storm. Earlier, pedestrians in the provincial capital, Jinan, had protested at their faces being flashed across screens on the road after they jumped the red signal at zebra crossings, prompting the authorities to blur their faces. This time, however, protests poured in from many cities. Residents said they had not been consulted when their community managements installed facial recognition software at their gates; some had refused to register for it. More serious were the complaints against real estate and courier agencies which either forced their clients to register their facial information, or secretly photographed them. In the provincial capital, Nanning, 10 customers had their properties sold without their knowledge by a dealer who had used their facial information to access their bank details.

On January 1, a new law protecting citizens’ privacy came into effect. But while private players will have to take permission before gathering such data, the government can use such information collected through equipment in public spaces only for “public security”. There is no escape, then, from Big Brother.