Chinese cyber totalitarianism: facial recognition required to have a telephone line

China has just taken a giant step forward in its ambitions to control everything that is done on the Internet, with the launch of a new "rights in cyberspace" law. It can sometimes seem that the Internet is a "lawless place", where anyone can do whatever they want; in reality, our actions on the Internet have more and more consequences, and the best example of this is China. The communist government has not hidden its interest in implementing more controls on the Internet, with the aim of "guaranteeing the rights and interests" of its citizens; however, along the way it is taking decisions that may violate others, such as privacy. The latest law, which came into force on December 1, is perhaps the most controversial. It implies the obligation to implement facial recognition to hire phone lines or mobile Internet, for all new registrations.