New facial recognition system installed at Hong Kong-Shenzhen border
Parallel traders, beware: new facial recognition system
installed at Hong Kong-Shenzhen border
Technology will also help to speed up customs checks on
border that sees 640,000 crossings every day, authorities say
By Alice Shen Tuesday, 24 July, 2018, 10:19am
Chinese authorities have introduced a new system to crack
down on “parallel traders” at two border checkpoints between Hong Kong and
Shenzhen, in a move that marks the beginning of facial recognition technology
being used on the large-scale at the mainland’s border checkpoints with the
city.
Parallel traders refers to people who buy tax-free goods
in the former British colony and then resell them in the mainland.
According to a message posted by the General
Administration of Customs on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like service, the new
system in place at the Shenzhen Bay and Lo Wu checkpoints will also speed up
the processing time for people travelling between the two cities.
“Passengers shuttling between Shenzhen and Hong Kong can
now just walk through the gates after their travel documents have been
verified, as the new facial recognition system will automatically capture their
faces,” the message said.
China’s elite Tsinghua University is now screening
visitors using facial recognition
Everyone who passes through the checkpoint is then
checked against a database of faces and travel information, and if there is a
suspicion they are a parallel trader the system will send an alert to the
customs officials, the statement said.
It did not say what would happen in the event of there
being such a match.
An official from Shenzhen customs, who asked to be
identified only by his surname Deng, told the South China Morning Post on
Monday that the facial recognition system had been installed but was still in
the trial phase.
Meanwhile, James To Kun-sun, a Hong Kong lawyer and
lawmaker representing the Democratic Party, said he was concerned about how the
images captured by the new system would be used.
“They already have your photo. It’s like you go to
countries, say, Japan and they will collect your up-to-date photo,” he said.
“But for certain countries, you trust them to use your
information in a more civilised way that complies with international data
protection standards. With this case, honestly, I don’t know how they will use
it.”
An influx of parallel traders from mainland China has
caused tension in Hong Kong. While some people who live close to the border
have complained that they have pushed up retail prices, others have argued they
are good for the local economy.
The new system will certainly be a boon for those with
legitimate reasons for crossing the border.
While both sides of the checkpoint were already equipped
with e-channels, which allow people to pass through using their identity card
and a thumb print, on the Shenzhen side visitors were also required to present
their ID cards for checking against a database of suspected parallel traders.
The new facial recognition technology removes the need
for this second stage.
According to figures published by Shenzhen customs last
year, it normally takes about 10 seconds for each person to pass through the
checking process, while it said that a total of 640,000 people make the border
crossing every day.
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