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During the summer vacation, children have more free time to relax and have fun, including playing online games. For children with poor self-control, how to prevent them from becoming addicted has become a hot topic of concern.

In recent years, the country has gradually established and improved the anti-addiction system for minors, and has successively issued a series of protection policies. At the same time, game companies have explored various anti-addiction measures to build a protective fence for the healthy use of the Internet by young people, and the anti-addiction work has achieved many results. In the process of advancement, some people have proposed to apply facial recognition technology to anti-addiction work. But is facial recognition technology suitable for full implementation in the game industry? Where is its application boundary? What are the social risks? Can it play a fundamental role in preventing addiction? Related issues remain the focus of long-term social attention and discussion.

When applying facial recognition technology, consider the principle of “minimum necessary”

Since the release of the new online game anti-addiction regulations on August 30, 2021, stricter control has been imposed on the gaming time and gaming behavior of minors. As an emerging technology, facial recognition is an important exploration in promoting anti-addiction work. However, can facial recognition technology be fully rolled out in the gaming industry? Where is its application boundary? To this day, related issues are still under discussion.

Compared with fingerprints, facial information is easier to obtain, especially the facial information of minors. Once leaked, it will have permanent consequences. For this reason, the industry is still cautious about the widespread application of facial recognition.

From a legal perspective, Yin Lamei, associate professor at the School of Intellectual Property of East China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with the Nandu Big Data Research Institute that although facial recognition technology has a certain role in preventing minors from becoming addicted, forcing all game products to use facial recognition may cause problems with privacy protection and technology abuse. It is not recommended to promote the use of facial recognition technology in game products under the current technical background and legal framework, at least not mandatory promotion.

She pointed out that at present, my country has put forward stricter requirements than general personal information protection in terms of laws and regulations on the protection of facial information data of minors. The "Personal Information Protection Law" and the "Regulations on the Safety Management of the Application of Facial Recognition Technology (Trial) (Draft for Comments)" both require that personal information processors can only process facial information when there is a specific purpose and sufficient necessity and strict protection measures are taken. In addition, the "Information Security Technology Facial Recognition Data Security Requirements" also emphasizes that when users of facial recognition technology process facial information of minors under the age of fourteen, they must obtain the separate consent or written consent of the minor's parents or other guardians.

This means that under the current legal framework, forcing all players to undergo facial recognition may lead to a large number of risks of violating the relevant provisions of the Personal Information Protection Law. In addition, Yin Lamei analyzed that facial data, as biometric information, is unique and unchangeable. Once leaked, it will have a more lasting impact on the subject of personal information. From the perspective of minors' cognitive abilities, minors' awareness and ability to protect personal information are relatively weak, and they may not be able to realize the value and potential risks of their facial information at the first time, making them more vulnerable to infringement. She suggested that the legitimacy and minimum necessity of collecting minors' facial information should be evaluated with more prudent standards.

Facial recognition faces the risk of leakage or increases the burden on the public

When discussing whether facial recognition technology can be widely used in the gaming industry, experts remind that the public costs and risks brought by facial recognition cannot be ignored.

The introduction of facial recognition technology can raise the threshold for underage users to bypass the network's anti-addiction mechanism. But at the same time, facial recognition technology is not omnipotent, and "failures" occur from time to time. For example, children may try to use other people's accounts, virtual private networks, and other means to bypass the verification system. It can be seen that facial recognition cannot fundamentally "limit" children's dependence on online games.

It is worth noting that repeated facial recognition in games will not only affect the experience of adult users, but also bring social risks such as privacy leakage. In February 2020, Clearview AI, an American facial recognition application service company, caused a sensation by leaking more than 3 billion facial data.

Wu Jun, senior partner of the management committee of Beijing Longan (Guangzhou) Law Firm, listed the secondary risks after the leakage of facial information in an interview with the media: "If facial information is stolen, criminals may apply it to some scenes in life that require facial recognition, and the impact is very uncontrollable. For example, when some banks conduct identity recognition, they do not need to go to the scene, but can directly collect it online, so bank account opening, loan processing, etc. may be affected."

It is worth mentioning that Liu Yuanju, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, believes that in addition to the cost of using the technology that companies that access facial recognition technology need to consider, the cost that the public needs to pay is often overlooked in the current application of this technology. "When facial recognition authentication is triggered, not only does it affect the user's complete gaming experience, but the user's most sensitive facial information is also collected." He believes that in the process of operating the facial recognition system, it is not only the companies that bear the cost, but the biggest cost actually comes from the invisible transfer of rights by the public.

Therefore, when discussing whether facial recognition technology can be widely used in the gaming industry, it is necessary to weigh whether the ratio of risks and benefits is appropriate and to comprehensively consider other issues such as user experience, data security, and privacy protection.

Beyond technology, family is the first line of defense

Preventing minors from being addicted to the Internet requires joint efforts from the whole society. Relevant officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Cyberspace Administration of China pointed out in their interpretation of the Regulations on the Protection of Minors from the Internet that schools and guardians should strengthen their prevention and intervention of minors from being addicted to the Internet, improve teachers' ability to identify and intervene in the early stages of minors' addiction to the Internet, and strengthen guardians' guidance on the safe and reasonable use of the Internet by minors.

Among them, family education is regarded as the "last mile" of protecting minors. Many experts said that the foundation of preventing minors from addiction lies in the family, and establishing a harmonious and equal intergenerational relationship and providing children with a warm harbor is the core of protecting minors.

Zhou Runan, associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Sun Yat-sen University, said in an interview with the media that, first of all, families should accompany minors to develop good online habits, and parents should set an example in the process, as actions speak louder than words; secondly, parents should ensure the emotional satisfaction of their children, put down their mobile phones and computers together with their children, enhance offline parent-child interaction and emotional communication, and meet their children's emotional needs; thirdly, it should be interest-oriented. In the era of mobile Internet, electronic devices are everywhere, and it is unrealistic to completely ban minors from accessing online games and other electronic products. The key is to guide children to choose beneficial and scientific content.

In addition, as part of the multi-faceted governance of minors' Internet addiction prevention, families should also actively engage in collaborative governance with other entities. Zhou Runan said that especially when minors show obvious signs of addiction, they can seek external help such as psychological counseling and addiction prevention and withdrawal training. The key is to take the initiative and work with other entities to weave a more sunny and beautiful Internet environment based on understanding the needs of minors.

In conclusion: Anti-addiction requires diversified governance

Minors grow up in the digital age and are Internet "natives". Anti-addiction work is a systematic project with a long way to go. Relying solely on technology cannot achieve the expected results. It requires the joint efforts of families, schools, society, and enterprises to guide children to get close to nature, love sports, and cultivate diverse interests. Let children "play" healthily, so as to better solve the problem of "anti-addiction".

Text: Mak Kit-ying and Tang Ching-yee