The salesperson said that the camera at the door was only "counting passenger flow"
Our face may be "sold"
In some shopping malls and stores, it is no longer a secret that cameras with face recognition function are installed to collect the face information of customers entering the store.
The reporter's investigation found that although some face recognition technology companies said they had stopped the business, they were still in the business of buying and selling face photos.
status quo
It is not difficult to find a set of 2000 yuan
Enter "face recognition camera" and "store face system" in a search engine or e-commerce platform, and you can quickly find multiple company pages that provide such products.
"Store face recognition, new retail system solutions, passenger flow statistics." A company announced the product on its promotion page.
The reporter contacted the customer service of the company to inquire about the purchase of cameras that can analyze customers' faces and personal information. The reporter responded that the company has stopped participating in such business since last year.
At the same time, some companies are still selling cameras with face recognition functions, but the staff said that the equipment is only used to assist in counting passenger flow and will not collect too much customer information.
"AI face recognition, with an accurate recognition rate of over 99.99%, accurately recognizes face information..." On the official website of a technology company in Shenzhen, the advertisement occupies the main page.
According to the page, the face recognition passenger flow statistics system can be used in commercial complexes, libraries, communities and other scenarios.
The reporter contacted the person in charge of the company, who said that the current camera with face recognition function is part of the company's passenger flow statistics management system.
"The camera is 2 million pixels, supports face capture in complex environments, and supports up to 32 face detections at the same time." The person in charge said that in order to complete the construction of the system, in addition to installing cameras in appropriate locations in the store, it also needs to be able to store data. cloud platform.
"If you buy them from me, on average, each camera will cost more than 2,000 yuan, and you will pay for the construction costs yourself."
hidden danger
Data can be traded independently, with high risk
So, what information can you get when you buy a face recognition camera that assists passenger flow statistics?
Is it only used for passenger flow statistics, there is no risk?
According to an industry source, the facial recognition shooting systems used in some shopping malls or stores before, mainly identify, collect and analyze customer information by shooting customers' faces.
But now, it is mainly changed to "collision line" to count the passenger flow, "such as the auxiliary statistical system, draw a line on the store floor. As long as a customer enters the store, they can 'touch' the horizontal line, so the passenger flow statistics will be recorded. …”
Although the relevant companies claim that the camera does not display facial information in the background, in fact, as long as the customer enters the store, the installed camera can capture the facial information of every customer.
The customer who is captured by the device has no control over where the captured face is stored and whether it will be desensitized.
On the contrary, behind this, there has always been a gray market for buying and selling facial information data.
In a chat group called "Data Annotation Sharing", some people sell face photos.
"We specialize in artificial intelligence facial data collection, which are all fixed shots." A seller said that he had about 3,000 facial pictures in his hands, mainly left when collecting student data in colleges and universities, " If you want 20 yuan per person." The seller said that the face data they collected was better than the faces collected by other devices, "Each person has 20 pictures, 5 videos, and all-round collection such as AI testing. , much better."
This kind of face data trading is not an isolated case. There have also been media reports before that on some online trading platforms, thousands of face photos can be bought for only 2 yuan, while more than 5,000 face photos are priced at less than 10 yuan. .
statement
The installation of the camera must be clearly informed
"There are many types of cameras. Generally speaking, to install cameras in public places, they must be installed to maintain public safety and public interests." Deputy Director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, Expert Committee of China Consumers Association Member Zhu Wei said that Article 26 of my country's "Personal Information Protection Law" stipulates that the installation of image capture and personal identification equipment in public places shall be necessary to maintain public safety, comply with relevant state regulations, and set up prominent reminder signs .
The collected personal images and identification information can only be used for the purpose of maintaining public safety and shall not be used for other purposes; except for the individual consent.
Zhu Wei also introduced that Article 5 of the "Personal Information Protection Law" stipulates that the processing of personal information shall follow the principles of legality, legitimacy, necessity and integrity, and personal information shall not be handled by misleading, fraudulent, coercive and other means.
Therefore, the relevant parties must clearly inform consumers that the camera is installed in a conspicuous place.
Zhu Wei believes that even if the camera for passenger flow statistics is shot under the condition of de-identification, it violates the rights and interests of consumers to a certain extent.
"Because functionally, all human faces, expressions, etc., can be recorded and obtained. What do shopping malls and merchants do with these captured customer images? Is it true that they will not violate privacy? It cannot be controlled." He reminded that the installation of cameras in public places should not be willful, let alone take the captured content for illegal use or analysis.
Our reporter Li Songlin