The volume of critical coverage of China’s proposed digital ID system in Western media stands in stark contrast to the near-total absence of coverage, critical or otherwise, of digital ID systems being developed by Western governments.
China is in the process of rolling out a centralised digital identity system, and is doing so as swiftly as possible. One of the reasons I know this is that articles warning about it have been sprouting up across the English-language media landscape. Time magazine, New York Times, the Financial Times, The Economist and the US government-funded Radio Free Asia have all covered the story in the past couple of weeks. The West-adjacent Japan Times has also run an article warning about the “fears of overreach” China’s proposed digital ID system is stoking.
The reason this is unusual is that the dark side of digital identity is a subject the mainstream media in West generally gives the widest possible berth. It is about as close to a taboo subject as you are likely to find, for reasons I will endeavour to explain later. But this being China, everything, including even this, is apparently fair game.
Protecting the Public from Private-Sector Data Abuse (Allegedly)
The articles began appearing a couple of weeks ago when Beijing announced pilot tests for a new national digital identification system across more than 80 internet service applications — only a week after releasing the draft rules for public comment. The draft provision remains open to public feedback until August 25.
Naturally, the articles in the Western press should be treated with care. Lest we forget, China is the US’ most important strategic rival, and is often the target of exaggerated claims. The Anglo-American media have already played a big part in over blowing Western perceptions of China’s still heavily fragmented, localised social credit system, which is actually primarily targeted at businesses rather than individuals.
According to an article in Caixin Global, the main goal of the new digital identity system is to cut down on the personal information that internet platforms can collect from their users. The current real-name registration system, introduced last year, has left platforms with an excessive amount of their users’ personal information, exacerbating privacy concerns and the risk of breaches. In 2021, China’s internet watchdog named and shamed 105 apps for data use violations, including ByteDance Ltd’s Douyin and Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn.
Beijing’s proposed digital ID system will form part of the broader “RealDID” program that aims to store individual identity records on the country’s government-run Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN). So, this appears to be about bringing private data under greater public control and is part of a long-term place. As explains a 2022 review of the book, Surveillance State, in MIT Technology Review, what the Chinese government is doing is redrawing the position of the state and citizens on the same side of the privacy battle against private companies:
As [the book’s authors, Josh] Chin and [Liza] Lin observe, the Chinese government is now proposing that by collecting every Chinese citizen’s data extensively, it can find out what the people want (without giving them votes) and build a society that meets their needs.
But to sell this to its people—who, like others around the world, are increasingly aware of the importance of privacy—China has had to cleverly redefine that concept, moving from an individualistic understanding to a collectivist one…
Consider recent Chinese legislation like the Personal Information Protection Law (in effect since November 2021) and the Data Security Law (since September 2021), under which private companies face harsh penalties for allowing security breaches or failing to get user consent for data collection. State actors, however, largely get a pass under these laws.
As tends to be the case with these kinds of programs, the digital ID is being marketed as optional — at least during the pilot phase. Chinese residents, the government insists, can “voluntarily” sign up to the program by matching their existing national ID card to facial biometrics. They will then be given an electronic network identity authentication certificate with a “network number,” with which they will be able to sign up for and log in to popular apps such as WeChat and Taobao. Whether Beijing actually honours its pledge to keep its digital identity program optional, only time will tell; India’s government certainly didn’t…
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Nick Corbishley 