The Application of Facial Recognition in China and India: Potential Risks and Regulation Suggestions

Facial recognition technology has multiple functions and risks, and has been widely applied in China and India. The current practices in these two jurisdictions have given rise to multiple issues in the application process, including privacy infringements, errors, bias of the recognition results and risks of governmental surveillance. Based on the issues and current rules, governments should focus on both individual protection and participants’ (i.e., companies and institutions that use this technology) regulation. For individual protection, legislators should use the rules regarding privacy and personal data protection to guarantee individuals’ control over their information and neutralise the power difference between individuals and powerful technology users. For participants’ regulation, this paper suggests that regulators use multiple mechanisms (including but not limited to laws) and hybridised regulation powers to influence participants’ behaviours and to promise responsible use of facial recognition technology.

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