China’s Proposed Nationwide Digital ID Sparks Concerns Over Government Surveillance

Passengers are using their ID cards to get to the station at Yantai Station in Yantai, China, on July 1, 2024.

China’s proposed nationwide digital identification system has sparked concerns about government overreach in a country known for its strict censorship and monitoring of speech.

Legal experts and internet users in the world’s largest online market have expressed skepticism about the stated goal of protecting privacy following the announcement of the proposal last week. China’s internet regulator and police have stated that users would be able to opt into these digital IDs, allowing them to verify their identities online without disclosing unnecessary personal information to internet service providers.

“The real intention is to step up the control of individual expressions online,” Lao Dongyan, a law professor at Tsinghua University, said in a post on X-like Weibo on Tuesday that has since been removed. Du Zhaoyong, a lawyer, said in another post that the move will have a “destructive” effect on the free flow of information.

The Chinese government already mandates internet users to register for digital services using their real identities and has extensive access to their online behavior and communications. However, a new centralized digital ID system could potentially provide authorities with a more direct and comprehensive view of people’s online activities.

Jeremy Daum, senior fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center, suggested that Chinese citizens might be more apprehensive about such a system given their experience with health codes, an online identification system China implemented during the pandemic to track and control citizens’ movements in an effort to contain the virus.

However, he noted that the regulation appears to prioritize privacy rather than content control.

“In China, privacy regulation is usually privacy versus other citizens and corporations rather than versus the government,” he said. The proposed system “gives you a new level of privacy where you don’t have to share information with a corporation, but the government of course still has access to that information.”

The proposal, put forth by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security, aims to establish a unified system for identity verification, restricting the ability of internet companies to collect data. 

Users would have the option to request a unique ID, composed of letters and numbers, along with a digital certificate to confirm their identity. According to the proposal, internet platforms should refrain from seeking additional personal information once a user has been authenticated.

Beijing has been critical of internet platform companies for gathering excessive data, with the internet watchdog in 2021 identifying 105 apps, including ByteDance Ltd’s Douyin and Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn, for violations.

More than 50 popular apps, including those operated by Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd and ByteDance, have participated in testing the proposed authentication system, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday, citing a survey it conducted.

The draft regulations are open to public feedback until Aug 25.