The anti-addiction system is upgraded again-
  from real-name certification to "face-washing" certification, can "Internet addiction teenagers" be saved

  On June 17, Tencent Games announced that in the new stage, Tencent Games will initiate face recognition verification in two scenarios: game login and payment.

  "This technology is much more effective than the anti-addiction system in the past, and it is a relatively rigid measure." Sun Hongyan, director of the Juvenile Research Institute of the China Youth Research Center, said that many "real-name" anti-addiction systems required minors to choose independently, so Some minors will find ways to crack or take evasive measures.

  She also believes that the anti-addiction method of "face-washing mode" has set a benchmark for the gaming industry and has also greatly promoted other Internet industries.

Tencent game exploration

  As the largest game company in China, Tencent Games has been continuously improving the protection system for minors in the past three years.

  2017 was the 1.0 stage of its minor protection system. It was the first to build a "pre-event-in-event" health protection program that covers minors' gaming behavior.

  Beginning in mid-2018, the protection of minors of Tencent Games entered the 2.0 stage, focusing on "strengthening the verification of real-names of all users and the restriction of differences between objects of different ages". Tencent Games not only connected to the public security authority data platform for verification, but also implemented mandatory real-name registration Access mechanism, and actively implement the requirements of the National Press and Publication Administration's "Notice on Preventing Minors from Addicting to Online Games" by the end of 2019 to upgrade the health system.

  Tencent Games said that after the new anti-addiction regulations were released, they were also thinking about how to protect minors who use their parental status, so they have been constantly exploring the application of face recognition technology, and through AI and machine learning and other technical means, Judging the user's game behavior characteristics, establishing and optimizing the "adult account suspected to be operated by a minor" portrait pool.

  At present, the implementation of the new anti-addiction regulations is nearing completion. Tencent Games once again promotes the protection of minors to the 3.0 stage, and will gradually initiate face recognition verification in the login and payment links of all mobile game products it operates.

  In the game login section: For adult accounts suspected to be operated by minors, face identification verification is required when they log in to the game, which is compared with the data of the public security authority platform. Rejected or unverified users will be included in the juvenile anti-addiction supervision, limited to 1.5 hours/day on weekdays, 3 hours/day on legal holidays, and unable to log in from 22:00 to 8:00 the next day.

  In the recharge payment link: When the monthly recharge of an adult account suspected to be operated by a minor is greater than 400 yuan, or the user has abnormal recharge behavior (such as a short-term recharge amount surge, etc.), it will be required to perform face recognition verification. Rejected or failed users cannot continue to recharge.

Anti-addiction "War"

  In fact, the "war" against children and online games indulged very early.

  Tian Feng, a researcher at the Academy of Social Development Strategies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that when the earliest games were popular on the PC side, the state adopted direct regulations to strengthen control of game halls and Internet cafes to prevent minors from entering these places.

  With the upgrade of the network and the widespread use of smart phones, mobile games are gradually replacing computer online games. The original supervision method for Internet cafes has also begun to "uncontrollable" addicted to online games. Following this, the supervision of mobile games has also been continuously strengthened, and the country has issued a number of protection policies and measures.

  In August 2005, the General Administration of Press and Publication issued the "Online Game Anti-addiction System Development Standards", which required seven domestic large-scale online game operators to prepare for the development of anti-addiction systems, and gave the "health time" standard: games within a cumulative 3 hours Time not only benefits the physical and mental health of young users, but also enables them to enjoy full game fun.

  In October of the same year, the anti-addiction system was tested for the first time in 11 games of the 7 hottest online game operators in China at that time, including "Legend", "World of Warcraft" and "Fantasy Westward Journey".

  Since 2007, the eight ministries and commissions including the Press and Publication Administration have jointly issued the "Notice on the Implementation of the Online Game Anti-Addiction System to Protect Mind’s Physical and Mental Health", requiring all online game operators to begin trial prevention in all online games on April 15. Addicted to the system.

  Two years later, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice that computers manufactured in China from July 1 onwards must be pre-installed with a specific software to protect minors from online health. It has a function to control online time.

  Tian Feng said that these measures can play a role in reality, but to a certain extent, if there is no cooperation between schools and families, it is still "innocent." Minors can always find various solutions, such as registering an account with the identity cards of their parents and elders, bypassing the anti-addiction system.

  China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporters found that searching online for "anti-addiction", a large number of cracking tutorials came into view; there are also online sellers who provide anti-addiction cracking "artifacts", prices ranging from a few yuan to tens of yuan.

Whose responsibility is to prevent addiction

  Tencent Games said that it has been concerned about the face recognition technology that attracts more attention from the outside world. As of now, there is no national uniform application specifications and safety standards, nor more mature and stable industry technical experience for reference, plus the public still has greater privacy protection concerns. Therefore, Tencent Games will take a very cautious attitude, comprehensively consider the balance between user privacy, information security and minor identification needs, and gradually explore the application of this cutting-edge technology.

  Tian Feng pointed out that joining the anti-addiction system will objectively increase the R&D and operation costs of game companies, and the formal anti-addiction system will also introduce the identity authentication service of the public security department, which is also a large cost. Profitable, you can work hard to achieve, small game companies are definitely not willing to spend this money."

  "Public resources are used for identity authentication. The state can consider providing it to game companies for free to further promote the construction of a youth anti-addiction system," he said.

  "The digital life of minors requires more than technical means to escort, but also requires the full participation of families." Tian Feng said that in real life, we must take into account the characteristics of minors' low online literacy and weak ability to resist temptation, and should implement online games Strict supervision.

  However, it should be noted that relying solely on the technical system cannot completely avoid game addictive behaviors, and to raise parents' network literacy and protection awareness of their children's network security, but has become a matter of urgency.

  Sun Hongyan suggested that parents should make good use of the anti-addiction software function. Many companies have made many technical attempts and breakthroughs in preventing the addiction of minors, but some parents do not understand how to use technology to prevent children from addiction.

  Tian Feng pointed out that in order to evade the supervision responsibility, many schools directly stipulate that students are not allowed to bring mobile phones and other electronic devices into the campus. "Many schools have almost no consciousness to improve the network and media literacy of children, which does not mean that students do not need education in this area. .On the premise of protecting children's physical and mental health, children can be exposed to diverse cultural content and online life through digital media as much as possible to ensure that minors thrive in the online society that has arrived."

  Tian Feng suggested that it is urgent to be led by the government and regulatory authorities to conduct full research and extensively solicit the opinions of scientific research institutions, schools, parents and related companies. It is necessary to achieve comprehensive anti-addiction certification from the technical level, time control and related products Consumption restrictions, establish a complete monitoring and evaluation system, let game manufacturers have provided comprehensive technical means to further play a role, but also to strengthen the network education of minors school education and family education, to form a social consensus.

  China Youth Daily reporter Li Chao Source: China Youth Daily