Chinese citizens must now scan their faces to access the internet or get a phone number

Chinese citizens will now have to use facial recognition to sign up for internet services or get a new mobile phone number. The Chinese government announced in September that residents applying for a new mobile or internet device will have their faces scanned by telecom operators. These new rules came into effect on December 1st.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which is the state agency responsible for regulating the Internet and technology. Wrote that the decision was part of its efforts to "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of citizens in cyberspace". And prevent fraud, according to Quartz. Recent reports indicate that China has about 854 million internet users.

The new legislation will also prohibit residents from transferring their mobile numbers to other people. According to Quartz, China appears to be the first country to require facial recognition to subscribe to mobile and Internet services. The new legislation is part of China's efforts to closely monitor its citizens and monitor their activities and behavior.

Chinese government forces people to scan their face before they can use internet as surveillance efforts mount

Last month, Chinese state media announced the development of a new "super camera". A 500-megapixel camera based on artificial intelligence capable of identifying individual faces. Even in a crowd of tens of thousands of people with "perfect precision". According to state media, the device is five times more powerful than the human eye. And could have "military, national defense and public security applications."

Last year, China also said it has developed a new surveillance camera. That identifies users based on their walking style and silhouette. The technology of "gait recognition" has already been deployed in several Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

In 2014, the Xi's government announced plans for its "social credit system". A vast, mandatory ranking system of all of its 1.4 billion citizens. According to China, the ranking system seeks to reinforce the notion that "keeping trust is glorious and breaking trust is disgraceful."