China's leading apps, including WeChat and Taobao, test proposed national cyber ID system
More than 50 widely used apps in mainland China - including platforms operated by Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance - are taking part in beta tests for the country's proposed cyber identity authentication system.
The Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China last month published the draft regulation for "National Cyber ID Authentication", as more than 50 apps recently started accepting virtual IDs created under this system for user account registration and login. The regulators are soliciting public feedback until August 25.
Cyber ID authentication aims to "reduce the overcollection and retention of citizens' personal information by internet platforms under the pretext of implementing real-name registration", according to the draft regulation.
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Chinese internet users can apply for a virtual ID, according to the regulation, "on a voluntary basis" to verify their identities online without disclosing sensitive personal information, such as national ID numbers, to the platforms.
Chinese internet users can apply for virtual identification on a voluntary basis under the proposed National Cyber ID Authentication regulation. Photo: AFP alt=Chinese internet users can apply for virtual identification on a voluntary basis under the proposed National Cyber ID Authentication regulation. Photo: AFP>
Application for a virtual ID involves using an app covered under this proposed regulation to read a person's physical ID card that supports near-field communication, pass a facial-recognition scan, link a mainland China-registered phone number and then set an eight-digit password.
Apart from ID cards, virtual ID applicants can also use the following: a China passport; mainland travel permit issued to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents; and a foreign permanent resident ID for non-Chinese nationals living in the country.
According to a survey conducted by the South China Morning Post, popular apps like image-editing platform Meitu, as well as merchant terminals for Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall, Meituan and ByteDance-owned Douyin, have added a new login option for the virtual ID. Alibaba owns the Post.
Tencent super app WeChat, with more than 1.3 billion monthly active users (MAUs), and Alibaba's flagship domestic shopping platform Taobao, with more than 887 million MAUs, already allow identity authentication when an account is determined as having "abnormal" usage by the platform, according to a report by ChinaStarMarket, a news site affiliated with the Shanghai municipal government.
The proposed Cyber ID authentication system was designed to reduce the overcollection and retention of users' personal information by internet platforms. Photo: Bloomberg alt=The proposed Cyber ID authentication system was designed to reduce the overcollection and retention of users' personal information by internet platforms. Photo: Bloomberg>
While the mainland's latest initiative reflects its focus on securing domestic data and preventing abuse of personal information collected by apps, legal experts have expressed concerns over the proposed regulation's implications on privacy and government oversight.
They warned that the initiative could also intensify surveillance over an individual's online activities, years after the government required websites and apps to collect users' real name and ID card number.
Shen Kui, a law professor at Peking University, acknowledged that a unified network identity could simplify the authentication process during online transactions and make the misuse of personal information less likely.
He cautioned, however, that the idea of mandating a uniform network identity would raise fears of a centralised surveillance system that could comprehensively track and analyse an individual's online footprint, according to Shen's published article last month on the WeChat account of the university's Centre for Constitutional and Administrative Law. This post was later deleted.
Similar concerns were expressed by Lao Dongyan, a criminal law professor at Tsinghua University. She posted on her Weibo account last month that the proposed system implied how accessing online services would effectively become "a privilege that requires permission to enjoy". As of Thursday, her post was no longer public.
Additional reporting by Xinlu Liang
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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