China ranks as the worst country at collecting, using and storing biometric data

There’s growing concern among Chinese citizens over how their biometric data is used, but China has no law to protect it

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Facial-recognition technology being demonstrated at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in August 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 11:04pm, 5 Dec 2019Updated: 3:56am, 6 Dec 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Biometric security has become extremely common in China, where facial recognition is already ubiquitous in everyday life. But how well does China protect all this data it’s collecting on its citizens? Not very well, according to a new report.

Research from Comparitech shows China performing the worst in nearly every way at protecting biometric data. The report examines how 50 countries collect, use and store biometric data. China scored 24 out of 25, with higher scores indicating “extensive and invasive use of biometrics and/or surveillance”.

To score each country, the report looks at how countries use biometrics in identification documents and banks and whether they have laws to protect biometric data.

It also looks at how big a country’s biometric database is, how widely it deploys facial recognition-enabled surveillance cameras, whether people are required to submit biometric information when they enter the country and if biometrics are collected in the workplace.

China scores the highest in all categories except one: voting. China has a zero in this category because its tightly controlled voting system doesn’t require biometric data.

Both the Chinese government and companies have been aggressively deploying facial recognition across the country. Mobile payment companies encourage users to pay with their faces.