South Korea: Mandatory facial recognition for new cellphone numbers is being tested in
South Korea: In an effort to stop scam efforts utilizing accounts that were unlawfully established, South Korea’s government on Tuesday began a trial phase for a new regulation that requires users to submit to real-time facial recognition when establishing a new mobile phone number.
The new regulation, which is scheduled to go into effect in March, would mandate that mobile virtual network operators and the nation’s three mobile carriers—SK Telecom Co., KT Corp., and LG Uplus—follow the process in both in-person and distant scenarios.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the regulation requires applicants to use PASS, an identity program created by the three mobile carriers and often used by government agencies, to scan their faces.
The administration said that the procedure just confirms if applicants’ real faces match the images on their identity cards and that the information would not be retained, despite worries over the collecting of biometric data.
The government also intends to amend the legislation to mandate that mobile carriers supervise new subscriptions in order to stop any fraudulent activity by their shops and warn users of the dangers of being engaged in crimes connected to phones that are unlawfully registered.
In the meanwhile, South Korean equities began trading higher on Tuesday, following Wall Street’s increase, which was driven by a rise in tech firms.
In the first fifteen minutes of trade, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) increased by 19.53 points, or 0.48 percent, to 4,125.46.
Expectations for a year-end Santa Claus rally were raised overnight as major U.S. markets continued to display a bull run spearheaded by tech sectors. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.52 percent, the S&P 500 climbed 0.64 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.47 percent higher.
In Seoul, rival chipmaker SK Hynix gained 1.72 percent, while electronics behemoth Samsung Electronics rose 0.81 percent.