China starts testing national cyber-ID before consultation on the idea closes

Chinese app developers have signed up to beta test a national cyberspace ID system that will use facial recognition technology and the real names of users, according to Chinese media.

Among the 71 privately-owned internet apps and ten government apps reported to be involved in The National Network Identity Authentication Pilot Edition are messaging and social media platform WeChat, online marketplace Taobao, and social commerce and lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu. Tencent's instant messaging service QQ and online ticketing platform China Railway 12306 were also said to be involved.

The ID is intended to work as both a physical and an online credential. The two forms correspond to a citizen's real-life identity – presumably through encryption – and are intended to be authenticated and issued by a government national service platform.

The national cyberspace ID is meant to eliminate the need for citizens to provide their real-life personal information to internet service providers (ISPs) – a current requirement when using the internet in the Middle Kingdom. It also takes away data retention chores from the ISPs and puts it in Beijing's capable hands instead.

The (allegedly) voluntary national ID scheme was proposed by Beijing on July 26 and has not yet been adopted. The scheme is open for comments until August 25 – which makes an already prepared pilot program seem like accelerated progress.

The beta test has users log in with a virtual number issued by an app after they provide ID verification, facial recognition, link their mobile phones and set an eight-digit password.

Not everyone has warmed immediately to the proposed system, with some expressing that it would reduce privacy. Tsinghua University law professor Lao Dongyan reportedly took to Weibo to compare the cyber ID to "installing monitors to watch everyone's online behavior" in a post that has since disappeared.

One citizen is reported to have filed suit within the Dongcheng District Court of Beijing over the app, claiming that since it is in the comment soliciting stage it has not officially taken effect – and therefore should not already be the subject of a pilot. ®