China introduces mandatory face scans for new mobile users, raising surveillance fears

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 49%. (I'm a bot)

China will require telecom operators to collect face scans when registering new phone users at offline outlets starting Sunday, according to the country's information technology authority, as Beijing continues to tighten cyberspace controls.

The notice said telecom operators should use "Artificial intelligence and other technical means" to verify people's identities when they take a new phone number.

A China Unicom customer service representative told AFP that the December 1 "Portrait matching" requirement means customers registering for a new phone number may have to record themselves turning their head and blinking.

Though the Chinese government has pushed for real-name registration for phone users since at least 2013 - meaning ID cards are linked to new phone numbers - the move to leverage AI comes as facial recognition technology gains traction across China where it is used for everything from supermarket checkouts to surveillance.

"This is a bit too much," wrote one user on the Twitter-like Chinese social media site Weibo, commenting under an article about the new rules.

In early November, a Chinese professor filed a claim against a safari park in Hangzhou, eastern Zhejiang province for requiring face scans for entry, according to the local court.

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