by Apparently misleading headline at Nikkei. There is nothing in the article that reflects what the headline asserts. To the contrary, in the last paragraph the article states the opposite. The situation in China apparently heralds an era of ubiquitous facial recognition, when greater tech-supported convenience comes at the cost of privacy. In China, however, the name of the game is "ease to use." There is no particularly strident criticism in the country, at least for now, about the use of the software by the government or companies.… But most people read only the headlines, and if they read the body at all, it's not past the first couple of paragraphs. So this is used as a tool in narrative control.Where the switch in smartphones is occurring is away from foreign brands to domestic brands
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Apparently misleading headline at Nikkei. There is nothing in the article that reflects what the headline asserts. To the contrary, in the last paragraph the article states the opposite.
The situation in China apparently heralds an era of ubiquitous facial recognition, when greater tech-supported convenience comes at the cost of privacy. In China, however, the name of the game is "ease to use." There is no particularly strident criticism in the country, at least for now, about the use of the software by the government or companies.…But most people read only the headlines, and if they read the body at all, it's not past the first couple of paragraphs. So this is used as a tool in narrative control.
Where the switch in smartphones is occurring is away from foreign brands to domestic brands for patriotic reasons but also reflecting the rise in quality of domestic products to a level that competes with the big name brands from abroad.
Moreover, there is a tradeoff between privacy and efficiency. There is also a tradeoff between privacy and access. China is pretty up front about this and privacy takes a seat to the rear of the bus.
In the liberal countries, a lot of lip-service is paid to privacy, and choice in making the tradeoffs, while the intelligence services are working behind the scenes to gain total information access, and according to Edward Snowden were doing quite well at the time he blew the whistle on it, not that he was the only one either.
The question is how much privacy is even possible in a technologically advanced society where information is a major factor in power and wealth.
Nikkei Asian Review
Pay with your face: 100m Chinese switch from smartphones —Facial recognition technology spreads rapidly at the expense of privacy
Takashi Kawakami And Yusuke Hinata, Nikkei staff writers