China's New Frontiers in Dystopian Tech

Dystopia starts with 23.6 inches of toilet paper. That's how much the dispensers at the entrance of the public restrooms at Beijing's Temple of Heaven dole out in a program involving facial-recognition scanners--part of the president's "Toilet Revolution," which seeks to modernize public toilets. If you go back to the scanner before nine minutes are up, it will recognize you and issue this terse refusal: "Please try again later." China is rife with face-scanning technology worthy of Black Mirror. Don't even think about jaywalking in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province.