Xiaopeng Automobile was fined for collecting face data How to protect our privacy?

News Background:

Recently, Shanghai Xiaopeng Automobile Sales Service Co., Ltd. was fined 100,000 yuan by the Xuhui District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, and the reason for the punishment was that the parties purchased 22 camera devices with face recognition functions and installed them in their stores, so as to count the number of people entering the store and analyze the proportion of men and women, age, etc. From January to June 2021, a total of 431623 face photos were collected and uploaded. This act violates the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law without obtaining the consent of the consumer, nor does it explicitly or inform the consumer of the purpose of collection and use.

Image source: Visual China

What does Xiaopeng Automobile want so much face data for?

It is said that it is identified by algorithms, and the statistics include the number of people entering the store, the proportion of men and women, the age structure, etc., as a reference for the company's operation. This explanation is rather grandiose, this practice makes the merchant profitable, but where is the rights of consumers who can be kept in the dark? Whether the so-called "business reference" will "discriminate" against consumers is also unknown. Such concerns are not superfluous.

This is not the first time that auto sales stores have been exposed to illegal "face recognition" of customers. As early as this year's CCTV March 15 evening party, it was exposed that BMW and other automobile sales stores collected and analyzed customer face data by installing cameras.

Using face recognition to collect records and analyze customer data can save companies the cost of large market research and can help achieve peer-to-peer sales. It may seem fantastic, but big data does have that magic. It is no exaggeration to say that if the information of consumer groups in banking, e-commerce, transportation and tourism, etc. is collected, it is completely possible to analyze the income, consumption ability, and consumption preferences of customers, and realize the precision marketing of some merchants. Not only that, face recognition is also regarded as a weapon to improve management efficiency, appearing in some community doorways, scenic spots entrances, the community uses it to manage management in and out, and scenic spots are in order to "improve access efficiency".

How can privacy be protected?

Today, the protection of privacy, including faces, is already a global consensus, it is different from passwords, belongs to personal biological information, can not be changed, once leaked may cause great harm to the personal and property safety of individuals. On 24 November 2021, UNESCO's 193 Member States formally adopted the first global framework agreement on the ethics of AI, the Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, which explicitly prohibits the use of AI systems for social scoring and mass surveillance. The right to privacy is indispensable to protecting human dignity, autonomy and agency, and must be respected, protected and promoted throughout the life cycle of AI systems.

Article 26 of the Personal Information Protection Law, which came into effect on November 1 this year, clearly stipulates that the requirements for installing image collection and personal identification equipment in public places shall be necessary for maintaining public safety, comply with relevant national regulations, and set up conspicuous reminder signs. The relevant information may only be used for the purpose of maintaining public safety and shall not be used for other purposes, except where the individual's separate consent has been obtained.

It can be seen that the face recognition device is not what you want to install, it must comply with the specifications, if it is not agreed by the consumer, nor does it indicate the purpose for which the consumer collects personal information, it is absolutely not allowed. The collected data is not something that can be used if you want to, it can only be used to maintain public safety, and cannot be used for other purposes.

Only by driving within the tracks of the law can there be a future

In early December, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a warning to a US company called Clearview AI, which collected a large number of photos of the faces of British citizens through social networks or other online public platforms, and that these photos may have been obtained without people's knowledge, and have been suspected of serious violations of UK data protection laws. The ICO has asked Clearview AI to delete the Briton's personal data and reminded the company that it could face fines of up to £17 million (around 144 million yuan) for "allegedly serious breaches" of the country's data protection laws.

Obviously, under government and regulatory and personal rights protection, more companies will be prevented from illegally collecting face data. The Shanghai regulatory authorities fined Shanghai Xiaopeng Automobile 100,000 yuan, which is the embodiment of the regulatory action.

He was fined 100,000 yuan, which is not a large amount, but it should definitely sound the alarm bell for Xiaopeng Motors. Xiaopeng Motors said: It apologizes for the concerns caused by the incident to users. It is not enough to apologize, whether we can truly respect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and provide better services for consumers is the key.

More importantly, the "Explorers of the Future" must travel within the tracks of the law in order to have a future. Which are the legal red lines and which are the moral bottom lines, the merchants must clarify and comply with, this is true for Xiaopeng Motors, and the same is true for operators in other industries.

(The above comprehensive people's network, Guangming network, Qianjiang Evening News)

In a nutshell:

@Zhou Peng'an: It's scary to think about. You go to a store, probably because you are waiting for someone to stop by, but your face photo is taken and becomes their resource.

@ Oh Little Brother: It is not strange to see it, it is the basic operation of the real estate industry.

@ Mulan Girl 741: A fine of 100,000 is drizzle.

@ Sheep lost again: After seeing the house and buying a car, do you have to wear a mask?

@Fei'er Cowboy-012: Protect personal face data.

China Economic Network Editor's Afterword:

"Face recognition" cannot be abused. Xiaopeng Motors was fined, as it should be. At the same time, this also warns other operators: face recognition equipment is not something you can install if you want to, precision marketing, technological innovation, or technology innovation, the premise is to comply with discipline and law. Only by operating within the framework of the law can we be more stable. It is worth noting that at present, there are still difficulties in personal rights protection, consumers are often unaware of the "black box operation" of bad businesses, and the damage to rights and interests is even more "hindsight". Therefore, in addition to the punishment after the fact, supervision also needs to take a step forward, and regulate the collection, preservation, and utilization of "face data" from the source to better ensure that "there is no shame".