A lawsuit against face-scans in China could have big consequences

GUO BING, a legal academic in the eastern city of Hangzhou, likes to spend his leisure time at a local safari park. But when the park informed season-pass holders like him that admission would require a face-scan, Mr Guo objected. Late last month he filed a lawsuit, claiming the new rules violated his privacy. Facial-recognition technology is widely used in China. Doubtless to the relief of the government which makes extensive use of it, there has been little public debate about it. State media, however, seized on Mr Guo’s case, trumpeting it as the first of its kind to be lodged in a Chinese court. Netizens have been hailing Mr Guo as a champion of consumer rights. A thread about his suit has garnered 100m views on Weibo, a social-media platform.

It is surprising that it has taken so long for the judiciary to get involved. Some 300 tourist sites in China use facial recognition to admit visitors. The safari park says doing so can shorten queues. Many office workers in Beijing’s main financial district clock in and out of work by scanning their faces. Some campuses and residential buildings use facial-recognition cameras to screen people entering. WeChat, a messaging and digital-wallet app, allows users to pay with their faces at camera-equipped vendors. Facial-recognition systems are ubiquitous at traffic intersections, in railway stations and airports (visitors to a public-security expo are pictured being scanned).