Last April, we reported the installment of Shenzhen's first anti-jaywalking facial recognition system at an intersection on the west side of Lianhuashan Park. The cameras and pair of digital billboards were intended to snap photos of unruly pedestrians, identifying and displaying their images to shame them into behaving.
The system was also said to save those photos, allowing it to recognize repeat offenders and even coordinate with other government databases.
It seemed like a lot of work to stop some jaywalkers. Close to a year later, we can't help but wonder: is it working?
It turns out that since implementation, the scope of the system has broadened in some ways and narrowed in others.
For one, Shenzhen traffic police are now maintaining a webpage on their official site that names and shames recent jaywalkers. As of Friday, March 23, photos of 15 people are on display, as well as identifying information and time of their offenses.
Before you panic, note that names and ID numbers have been partially concealed. Plus, in almost all photos, faces of both jaywalkers and bystanders been blurred out. While not completely foolproof, it at least adds a thin veil of privacy to the endeavor.
The only exception is the most recent offender, logged on March 16, whose face is shown in crisp detail.
There also seem to be gaps in coverage – between March 12 and 16, no jaywalking was recorded, an absence of rule-breaking that's hard to believe. And although a similar facial recognition system is installed in at least one other Shenzhen intersection, in Nanshan, only offenders in the vicinity of Lianhuashan Park were listed.
When we visited the intersection of Xinzhou Lu and Lianhua Lu in person this past Wednesday morning, the signs purported to display jaywalkers' photos didn't seem to be doing much.
As e-bikers, pedestrians and motorcyclists repeatedly ran red lights, no alarms sounded. On one digital display, we watched a looping animated video illustrate how repeat jaywalkers would be exposed to the public – yet no one else so much as glanced at it.
The other sign seemed to be stuck on the image of a login screen.
There's no doubt the cameras are working, however. A report by Australia's ABC News says that as many as 13,930 offenders were recorded at one Shenzhen intersection over 6 months.
Local traffic police told Southern Metropolis Daily that jaywalking has dropped significantly since the Lianhua Lu system was installed. They also reinforced that Chinese law allows the public display of rule-breakers' pictures.
"…[We] didn’t reveal identifying information, so it’s not illegal. If a pedestrian jaywalks, proceeding to reveal their photo is not illegal. When a car breaks traffic rules, we will show the license plate of the car, this is also not illegal.”
According to traffic police, the facial recognition systems are a work in progress and may see future 'improvements.'
Like it or not, facial recognition as a tool for regulation in China appears to be here to stay. High-tech anti-jaywalking measures have reportedly been taken in "dozens of Chinese cities," including Shanghai, where offenders can pay RMB20 to get their images removed from the public eye.
And of course, there are the fancy systems set up to keep tourists from stealing toilet paper in Beijing, not to mention ambitious plans to prevent public housing fraud in, again, Shanghai.
It's a brave new world we live in, one in which even jaywalkers must face up to their actions.
[Images via stc.gov.cn, Southern Metropolis Daily, Bailey Hu]
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