ChinAI #166: Piggybacking Off of Other People's Faces

Chen Dong fights for his right to not be (facially) recognized

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Feature Translation: Piggybacking Off of Other People’s Faces

Context: Chen Dong (a pseudonym) was living an ordinary life at age 37. Got married five years ago. The next year, bought a flat in Zhengzhou (Henan Province), in a residential area with around 10 of those super high-rises. Had a kid the year after that. Stable job as a photographer for a film crew. Then, their community switched to a facial recognition security system. Concerned about data leaks, the Chen family refused to input any facial information. Now, they resort to “piggybacking” (蹭) off of other people’s faces (quickly following in after someone does a face scan). Perpetual Light Studio (极昼工作室), a reporting unit under Sohu, tells Chen’s story (original Chinese).

Key Takeaways:

Resistance via “Help Me, Xiao Li”

• When there was no one at night to piggyback off of, Chen Dong would crawl under the garage railing to get into the property. “It’s really like being a thief.” They weren’t lone piggybackers. From the article, Chen recounts: One night I was waiting outside. A person came and also waited with me without scanning their face. Then a person came to the gate from the inside. We thought he would be able to come out, but when he also stopped and waited, we laughed bitterly at each other.

• After China’s Supreme People’s Court issued a judicial interpretation on the use of facial recognition on July 27, 2021, Chen went to property management three days later, but they told him he had psychological issues. He was so angry and sought out the Henan TV program called “Help Me, Xiao Li.” The TV program came the next day and interviewed the property management. They claimed that they had conducted a public opinion survey beforehand — a point Chen disputes — but conceded that they would make an exception for Chen to register in the system with a household registration card.

The gap between legal protections and on-the-ground reality

• The article cites the Personal Information Protection Law, which stipulates that collection of sensitive personal information cannot be covered by a blanket agreement. News to me was that Shanghai passed local regulations on November 29, 2021, stating that image collection and personal identification technology shall not be used as the only means of verification for entering and exiting public places, residential communities, and commercial buildings. In those aforementioned Supreme People’s Court regulations on facial recognition applications, article 10 “specifically stipulates that property management companies cannot use facial recognition as the only verification means for homeowners or property users to enter or exit the property.”

• Despite being on stable legal footing, Chen still has trouble convincing the property owners. Others still haven’t learned about these new regulations. From the article: After the broadcast of “Help Me, Xiao Li,” people from the three property owner groups were discussing. Some people said, “If you didn’t tell me about (the risks), I wouldn’t know about it. Now that you’ve talked about it, I feel a little scared.” Others said, “I didn't know that the country actually controls (personal sensitive information), now I know.”

• The gap between the courtroom and the real world differs based on your location. Chen gained a little fame after his appearance in “Help Me, Xiao Li” became a “hot search” topic. He recounts: My friends in the first-tier cities told me that their communities have also implemented face recognition. It didn’t work well, so they quarreled with the property management. In the end, they called the mayor’s hotline and the property management gave them a card for getting in and out. But, ah, that is a first-tier city. Now, the media has already reported it. If they don’t fix it for me, what can I do?

Interesting distinction Chen makes regarding his trust of property management vs. the government: What if the ID card and facial information are leaked? If you are a government agency, I will definitely cooperate. Every time I go to a hotel on business, I will also do face recognition. Alipay and WeChat need to verify information, and I will also cooperate, but I have not activated face payment either. After all, these are regulated by the government, but I’m not reassured when handing this to the property management.

Read more about Chen Dong’s story in the FULL TRANSLATION: After rejecting facial recognition, the man who piggybacks off others’ faces to get home

ChinAI Links (Four to Forward)

Should-read: China Increasingly Obscures True State of Its Economy to Outsiders

For The Wall Street Journal, Liza Lin and Chun Han Wong identify some troubling examples of increasing opaqueness about information on China, including a purge of an online court-document database, restrictions on information on coal use, and limits to sharing ship location information outside of the country. The pandemic, increased protections for data security, and a worsening geopolitical environment have all contributed to this trend.

Should-read: DigiChina's December 2021 newsletter

This month’s DigiChina newsletter covers their forum on Chinese technical standards efforts and pending regulations for cross-border data flows. Definitely sign up for these monthly updates from the Stanford DigiChina Project, based at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and in partnership with the Leiden Asia Centre.

Should-read: China Information Operations December newsletter

Edited by Hannah Bailey, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, this edition looks at recent Twitter and Facebook takedowns of Chinese state-sponsored influence campaigns on their platforms. It also linked to a very interesting article about China’s approach to big data and AI research, which finds that “authoritarian political institutions continue to have a negative effect on innovation.”

Should-read: U.S. imposes sweeping human rights sanctions on China, Myanmar and North Korea

A Reuters team reports on the U.S. imposition of sanctions on entities linked to Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, and North Korea, which included the addition of SenseTime to an investment blacklist. I chose to highlight this reporting over all the others because it placed the SenseTime blacklisting in the broader context of a coordinated effort marking Human Rights Day. I think this approach — trying to develop a consistent, global human rights policy — is a subtle but important departure from the previous administration’s approach.

Thank you for reading and engaging.

These are Jeff Ding's (sometimes) weekly translations of Chinese-language musings on AI and related topics. Jeff is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, sponsored by Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

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