Increasing use of facial recognition technology in China faces backlash from city governments
- Ningbo, in eastern Zhejiang province, has fined three property developers for using facial recognition without customer consent
- More and more provinces and cities are considering policies to limit the increasing overuse of facial recognition
In the city of Ningbo in eastern Zhejiang province, the local market regulator recently fined three property firms for “illegally acquiring customers’ facial information”.
The companies, local subsidiaries of land developers China Poly Group, Sunac China Holdings and Greenland Holdings, were each slapped with a fine of 250,000 yuan (US$38,500).
The Ningbo Administration for Market Regulation said that the three firms “violated the consumer protection law by collecting and using facial identity without consent” when they set up facial recognition devices at sales offices to determine whether a visitor was the client of an agency.
In China, some residential projects, especially those that don’t sell well, offer a discount to property agencies to increase the customer base. If a buyer visits the property and later turns to an agent for the lower price, the discount would be void.
By capturing visitor’s facial information, sales offices were able to determine who was returning with an agent in tow.
