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Beijing's subway will install face and palm scanners

While you have to swipe your Metro card with precise timing in NYC, Beijing Subway will scan you!

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Beijing has nearly 20 metro lines with more than 300 subway stations, moving more than nine million people every day. (Picture: AFP)
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

I love the New York City Subway for its old-world charm and the grunginess that you just can’t get anywhere else. Ah, those archaic turnstiles that require you to swipe your Metro card with precise timing... or else.

But Beijing is not about that retro look. Instead it’s going full “Blade Runner” by announcing that it will put face and palm scanners at turnstiles as early as this year.

State media said this new “bio-recognition technology” will potentially allow passengers to get into stations by simply having their face or palm scanned, which will then speed up passenger flow during rush hour.

Beijing has nearly 20 metro lines with more than 300 subway stations, moving more than nine million people every day. (Picture: AFP)
Beijing has nearly 20 metro lines with more than 300 subway stations, moving more than nine million people every day. (Picture: AFP)

So if you don’t like to whip out your subway pass or tap out the QR code on your phone, this is good news for you.

However, this news will likely alarm human rights groups. China is amassing increasingly powerful surveillance tools, and has an established track record of surveilling its citizens.
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