People’s Daily recently reported that the Ministry of Public Security intends to use eID on bank cards and cell phone SIM cards so the users can conduct online shopping without providing personal information such as name, address, telephone, or residence ID number. The first eID will be implemented in the registration of real estate transactions in Haikou city in October. The article stated that the eID will prevent the theft of personal information. It reported that there were 6.5 billion occurrences of personal information theft in China in 2016, which means that each resident had their personal information leaked at least five times. An article that pao-pao.net carried in 2015 noted that even though eID technology is mature and can be applied in banking, shipping and online shopping areas, eID also provided real time supervision of online activity on each individual. A regular Chinese citizen is unable to differentiate the personal use of eID versus how the Ministry of Public Security uses the information. The article pointed out that, “No other countries in the world use eID in the banking industry because they face the barrier of how to protect their citizen’s personal interests, but that this does not appear to be an issue in China.”
Sources:
1. People’s Daily, September 24, 2017
http://society.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0924/c1008-29554848.html
2. Pao Pao Net, March 26, 2015
https://pao-pao.net/article/402