How a facial recognition technology helps identify suspects from the crowd

Chinese authorities have arrested a man after the country’s advanced facial recognition technology spotted him within a gig crowd of around 50,000 people.

According to the South China Morning Post the man was detained last week in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. The country has one of the most advanced surveillance systems in the world and utilises a massive network of cameras located around cities, on police vehicles and even on headsets worn by police officers.

According to sources which spoke to the paper the man, who has been arrested for unspecific economic crimes, was reportedly in shock upon being discovered by the local authorities. The country uses facial recognition technology across its vast network of around 170 million CCTV cameras with some reports suggesting that China will have around 600 million cameras in operation by 2020.

The country also uses it for less insidious reasons with facial recognition being used as a valid form of payment at fast food restaurants while a new Ford-backed initiative lets you rent a car using just a selfie taken on your phone. This is certainly not the first time that China’s vast surveillance network has caught a criminal and the country regularly warns it citizens that because of it, escaping any crime unpunished will be virtually impossible.