New Phone in China? Scan your face…
Mobile phone users in China will have to submit to 3D face scans to get a sim card. How does this compare to the rest of the world, and what will this mean for its citizens?
Mobile phone users in China will have to submit to 3D face scans to get a sim card. Technology ethicist Dr Stephanie Hare and New York Times Asia correspondent, Paul Mozur, discuss how this will affect citizens’ privacy, and whether China is alone in making this decision.
Petr Plecháč from the Institute of Czech Literature uses a piece of software that can identify people by the pattern of their written language. Gareth speaks with him about Shakespeare’s Henry VIII and the likelihood of John Fletcher co-authoring this key text.
Reporter William Park takes a go at being a virtual burglar. He investigates a game that is allowing researchers to understand what thieves do during a break-in, with the aim of understanding their moves and decision making.
A technique that allows people to check how computer neural networks make decisions about image classification may help to reduce mistakes by AI in medical imaging. Dr Cynthia Rudin explains why bird identification was the perfect model to test the computers’ abilities – and check them.
(Image: Facial recognition with smartphone. Credit: Getty Images)
Presenters: Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson
Producer: Rory Galloway
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Broadcasts
- Tue 10 Dec 201920:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia, Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Tue 10 Dec 201921:32GMTBBC World Service News Internet & East Asia only
- Wed 11 Dec 201905:32GMTBBC World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet & Europe and the Middle East only
- Wed 11 Dec 201906:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean & South Asia only
- Wed 11 Dec 201907:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & East Asia only
- Wed 11 Dec 201911:32GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
- Wed 11 Dec 201914:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Wed 11 Dec 201918:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia & West and Central Africa only
- Sat 14 Dec 201902:32GMTBBC World Service South Asia & East Asia only
- Sat 14 Dec 201916:32GMTBBC World Service News Internet
- Mon 16 Dec 201901:32GMTBBC World Service except Australasia, East Asia, News Internet & South Asia
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Digital Planet
Technological and digital news from around the world.

