Between security and convenience: Facial recognition technology in the eyes of citizens in China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States

Abstract

How does the public perceive facial recognition technology and how much do they accept facial recognition technology in different political contexts? Based on online surveys resembling the Internet-connected population in China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, our study finds that facial recognition technology enjoys generally highest acceptance among respondents in China, while acceptance is lowest in Germany, and the United Kingdom and the United States are in between. A closer examination through the lens of an integrated technology acceptance model reveals interesting variations in the selected four countries based, among other factors, on socio-demographic factors as well as perceived consequences, usefulness, and reliability of facial recognition technology. While previous research has pointed out that facial recognition technology is an instrument for state surveillance and control, this study shows that surveillance and control are not foremost on the minds of citizens in China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, but rather notions of convenience and improved security.

Big Data Dreams and Reality in Shenzhen: An Investigation of Smart City Implementation in China

“…Examples include failure to curb urban crime while enhancing digital surveillance (Wiig, 2018), facilitating exploitative labour conditions by businesses that are embraced as part of digitally upgrading cities (Attoh et al, 2019) and potential blind spots around unequal benefits of open data for citizens and commercial actors (Barns, 2016). Similar questions of surveillance, privacy, data ownership and social disempowerment have also been raised in scholarship on China's digitalisation (Kostka, 2019;Kostka et al, 2021;Lv and Luo, 2018;Ruan, 2018;Xu, 2021;Yang and Xu, 2018).…”

Public Opinion Toward Artificial Intelligence

“…In the four-country survey discussed above, respondents in China indicated the highest support for facial recognition use (67% support). In contrast, 38% of adults in Germany, 50% in the UK, and 48% in the US supported the use of the technology (Kostka et al, 2021). Respondents in China, compared with the other countries, perceived facial recognition technology to be more convenient and efficient as well as less risky from privacy, discrimination, and surveillance perspectives.…”

“…In contrast, less than a quarter of Australian adults supported uses by businesses to track customers or advertise to consumers (Automated Society Working Group, 2020). In a 2019 study of the public in China, Germany, the UK, and the US, support for central governments' use of facial recognition technology was higher than support for use by private businesses (Kostka, Steinacker, & Meckel, 2021).…”

Face Recognition in Law Enforcement: A Comparative Analysis of China and the United States

“…Will the public's sense of privacy and freedom diminish under the supervision of the state? Indeed, China has the most considerable acceptance of facial recognition (Kostka, Steinacker, & Meckel, 2021). Moreover, Chinese responses are more likely to be technology optimists concerned with the convenience technology brings to their lives (Wang & Zhang, 2019).…”

“…The American public has resisted face recognition, but the public is more receptive to the use of facial recognition by the central government than private companies, and so is China. The use of facial recognition for surveillance by law enforcement is not a matter of public concern but rather the convenience and increased security of face recognition applications (Kostka, Steinacker, & Meckel, 2021). Biometric features in face recognition are not lost, transmitted, or stolen.…”