By Sam Shead

A survey by a Beijing research institute indicates growing pushback against facial recognition in China. Some 74% of respondents said they wanted the option to be able to use traditional ID methods over the tech to verify their identity. Worries about the biometric data being hacked or otherwise leaked was the main concern cited by the 6,152 respondents.

Facial recognitions systems are being rolled out in stations, schools, and shopping centres across the country. The survey, first reported in the West by The Financial Times, was released on Thursday by the Nandu Personal Information Protection Research Centre. It has been described as being one of the first major studies of its kind into public opinion on the subject in mainland China.

Some 80% of respondents said they were concerned that facial recognition system operators had lax security measures. Separate research suggests that they have good reason to be concerned.

China was ranked the worst of 50 surveyed countries in a study looking at how extensively and invasively biometric ID and surveillance systems are being deployed. The work was carried out by the cybersecurity firm Comparitech.

It said China had no "specific law to protect citizens' biometrics" and highlighted a "lack of safeguards for employees in the workplace". Read more via BBC