Standards issued for collection, usage of facial information

APD NEWS

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Cellphone collecting facial information /CFP

A new standard on applications' collection and usage of personal information was published and started to take effect Thursday, requiring that all must follow the principle of "minimization and necessity".

The standard was part of a rule published by the Telecommunication Terminal Industry Forum Association (TAF), targeting a widely-concerned issue: the protection of private information in the digital era.

According to the rule, all applications must follow the "minimization and necessity" principle while collecting and using information, including facial information, contacts, messages, locations and images.

In terms of minimization and necessity, the processing of that information should have clarified and reasonable purposes and should be limited to a small scope.

For instance, the minimization principle for facial information collection includes informing the users about the purposes, measures, types, scope, and time for storage of the collection and usage.

The rule stipulates that the facial information and the owner should be stored separately, and the facial mold should be encrypted, and usages should be read-only with authorization.

Generation of a portrait of the users is completely forbidden, and after the necessary processing was completed, the temporary data should be cleared beyond retrieving. Sharing of the information is also banned.

The new rule was issued to further protect the personal information of individuals. With the explosion of types and quantities for applications, complaints about users' rights being harmed have also been increasing.

Recently, residents in several residential communities have protested while the property manager tried to install facial-recognizing entrance guard systems.

In October, a draft law on the protection of private information was submitted to the standing committee of the 13th National People's Congress and later opened to the public for suggestions.