It is a decision that scandalized even the state media in China this week: the diversion of QR codes for purposes other than health, in this case to prevent small savers from withdrawing their money.
With our correspondent in Beijing,
Initially, there are the financial difficulties of four Henan banks. Small savers who live in neighboring provinces, sometimes in the same province, but far from the provincial capital Zhengzhou, have for some been confined to their homes for long weeks, when suddenly they learn that a shareholder of one of the banks is on the run.
They then decide to go up to Zhengzhou to withdraw their assets, except that when they get off the bus, when they arrive at the station or the airport: code red! On their smartphone, their health QR code has changed color: red is assigned to carriers of the virus or close contact, when they had done a PCR test before leaving. This one, negative, is essential to be able to travel to China.
A health QR code – the health pass on laptops – is marked with red pixels, and you are immediately blocked! The interested parties quickly understood, above all, that they were taken for marbles.
” Don’t use big data to play tricks on me, one such savers told the Zhengzhou platform 12345 – the local government’s people-only telephone number – in a recording. I’m also a computer engineer, you know, so don’t play this little game with me! » « Did you take a test when you arrived? », Answers an agent. “ Of course yes, and no problem, it’s negative. I did it after getting off the plane. If we don’t do that, we won’t get out of the airport, are you aware (ironic)? “. He explains that he took the test the morning before. ” Now I want you to explain to me how I ended up with a red code?!? »
A bad color change
The information site Sixth Tone based in Shanghai, whose editor-in-chief had warned in April 2020 of the risks of misappropriation of personal data collected for the purposes of disease prevention, explains that small owners of apartments under construction, but whose construction site is stopped , also saw their health passes turn red last Sunday, after launching a petition at Zhengzhou City Hall.
The city had already been singled out last year for having ordered a system for monitoring the movements of journalists via telephones and facial recognition cameras. The case was then censored, which is not the case this time. Because on social networks, testimonials accumulate.
In a video posted June 14 on the Weibo network, a woman is in tears. She managed to get to the bank, but once there, she was forcibly restrained by ten security guards. ” I’m just an ordinary citizen, I don’t know much, but I know it’s my money! she exclaims. ” You are the bank I deposited it in. We should be free to withdraw it and you want to stop us…give me back the money! »
The case immediately went viral. State media was quick to draw a red line to code red usage. “ Health codes can only be used for epidemic prevention “, writes the editorialist of the GlobalTimes. Same story a few days later with the daily newspaper of Henan : “ “health codes” can only be used for Covid-related purposes “.
” The purpose of epidemic prevention and control is clear: if citizens are restricted by code red when they want to exercise other rights, the intended purpose of the health code is lost. “, affirms in the official media a lawyer of Shanghai quoted by the China Digital Times.
The health QR code is a sacred tool for tracing viral pneumonia, and when it bugs, or stops, like during the Zhengzhou floods just last summer, the contact case tracing chain is broken. However, the tool can only work thanks to the sacrifice of certain personal data, for the common good.
The problem is that this kind of algorithm, used here for monitoring an epidemic, can be easily diverted to other uses. Especially since “ there is no supercomputer that manages the health passes of the 1.4 billion Chinese (…) there is not a single Big Brother in charge of this affair, so it is not yet Black Mirror “, underlines the specialized Newsletter pekingologyrecalling that it is the cities that each impose their respective system.
Has the central government let the scandal escalate to remind certain prohibitions for the provinces which have financial difficulties linked to the real estate crisis? The incident will in any case have made it possible to reveal the difficulties of the banks and “ a huge scam of 5.7 billion euros pointed out by the finance section of the Sina portal », notes the International mail. As for the diversion of QR codes, an internal investigation has in any case been launched in Zhengzhou to find the officials who decided to use health data for political purposes.