In China, surveillance cameras equipped with facial recognition technology are often hailed as important tools for improving security while offering convenience.
But as these devices become more pervasive, some Chinese people are questioning whether facial recognition comes with its own set of safety and privacy concerns.
According to a survey published on Thursday, 74% of respondents said they would like to have a choice between traditional identification methods (like keycards) and facial recognition technology.
More than 40% surveyed worried that their biometric data could be abused by irresponsible operators. Of that group, 80% feared their data might be leaked by entities with lax security measures.
While more than 60% of the respondents said facial recognition had made their cities safer, more than 80% of the people surveyed would like a way to review or delete the personal data collected.
The survey was conducted by an artificial intelligence research group affiliated with the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper. The team received responses from more than 6,000 people, the majority of whom were from the capital Beijing and Linfen, a city in the north-central province of Shanxi.
Earlier this week, China introduced a new rule requiring people to have their faces scanned when signing up for mobile phone services, in a move that raised concerns about whether there were sufficient measures in place to safeguard privacy rights.
Last month, a law professor in east China's Zhejiang province who bought an annual pass for a wildlife park sued the park for alleged breach of contract after it replaced its fingerprint-based entry system with one that used facial recognition.
In the latest survey, researchers looked at five main areas where Chinese people tend to encounter facial recognition devices: outside their apartment complex, on mass transportation and at schools, malls and public toilets.
Many Chinese urbanites are asked to scan their faces to access apartment buildings, train stations and schools. Even some public toilets ask people to take facial scans to unlock toilet paper machines.
For some, facial recognition technology makes life easier and safer. Many residents living in public housing compounds told the researchers that unlocking entrances with their faces come in handy when their hands are full.
In a separate study, China was ranked number one in the world for its extensive and invasive use of biometric data, according to Comparitech, a tech research site based in the UK.
Malaysia came in second, followed by Pakistan. The US was in fourth place. Taiwan, the Philippines, India and Indonesia shared fifth place. Comparitech analyzed how biometric data was being collected, used, stored and whether there were laws to protect people's data.
China also had eight of the top ten most-surveilled cities in the world, according to Comparitech. Beijing, ranked 9th.
The world's most surveilled city is Chongqing, a municipality in southwest China. The city has about 168 cameras for every 1,000 people. That is eleven times greater than the number of surveillance cameras in Atlanta, Georgia, which ranked 10th in the world and was America's top-ranking city.
With additional reporting from Phoebe Zhang.
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