Turning eyes to artwork: Safety, privacy risks in view as young Chinese look towards iris photography

SINGAPORE: Looking to turn your eyes to artwork? More young people in China have been opting for iris photography - a trend that experts are gazing at with concern, citing potential safety and personal privacy risks.

As the name suggests, iris photography involves high-resolution photos being snapped of a person’s iris. The images are then edited into art prints. 

While such services are not new and are offered all around the world, more people in the world’s second-largest economy, especially youngsters, have been taking a shine to them, according to local media reports.

CNA did a search for “iris photography”, or “hongmo sheying” in Mandarin, on the popular Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. There were numerous posts of users across China sharing their experiences, along with photo studios advertising iris photography services.

One studio in Changchun city in northeastern Jilin province offered iris photography services at a promotional rate of 98 yuan (US$13.45) per person. The whole process takes about 30 minutes to 40 minutes, the studio added.

Similarly, one Xiaohongshu user, Matiani, said her iris photography experience at a studio in Chengdu took 30 minutes.

“The final product is beyond your imagination, each photo is full of artistic expression,” Matiani wrote. “It’s almost as if there are universes in your eyes.” 

EYE SAFETY AND PRIVACY CONCERNS

As more people eye iris photography services, concerns over safety as well as risks to personal privacy have also come firmly into view.

Exposure to intense light during the photo-taking process could potentially harm the retina, said Yu Pingping of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University as reported by local news site ECNS in a Dec 12 article. Yu recommended that users limit exposure to strong light and reduce the frequency of photography sessions.

Patients with conditions such as keratitis, retinal diseases, or recent eye surgeries should refrain from trying out iris photography, said another doctor, Han Wei, from Zhejiang University School of Medicine who was quoted in the same report.

Experts have also spotlighted potential privacy issues, especially in a country where biometric recognition methods are ubiquitous.

The iris is a biometric marker, and any leak or abuse of such information could pose serious security risks, said Wu Shenkuo, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Law of Beijing Normal University and deputy director of the research centre of the Internet Society of China.

"Personal biometric information such as iris information should be collected and used with the explicit consent of consumers and limited to specific purposes, and the storage and use periods should be clearly defined. After the period expires, it must be deleted or anonymised,” he said in a Dec 17 report by local news site The Paper.

“Your iris is so unique, it can be used in place of a password or passcode on some of the most valuable things in your life, such as your home or your bank account,” said museum specialist Aubrey Minshew at the Truhlsen - Marmor Museum of the Eye in California.

“This is not to say that you shouldn’t seek out an iris photography studio, but it’s worth taking a look at how the company you choose protects, deletes or shares your biometric data,” she wrote in a blog post on the museum website. 
 

China passed a law in 2021 that toughened rules on personal data security. Under the Personal Information Protection Law, companies must get individual consent to obtain sensitive personal information such as biometrics and location. Regulators can also suspend and terminate platforms that illegally collect personal data.

When asked, a staff member at a Beijing photo studio offering iris photography told state-owned China National Radio that many customers were concerned about privacy issues involving their photos. However, he explained that it was "just a photo” and personal identification cannot be identified from the original picture.

Guo Sumin, an engineer at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told China National Radio that collecting information from a person’s iris requires specialised technology, beyond the typical setup of a photo studio.

Guo added that while iris photography and using iris biometric authentication are “not exactly the same in terms of hardware, software and technical principles”, he does not rule out the possibility of criminals combining the relevant technical means to steal privacy. 

Even as the discussion in China continues over iris photography, some people aren’t too fussed.

“Is it really that beautiful, (why do people have to) show off everything,”  one user wrote on the Chinese micro-blogging site Sina Weibo. 

“How is this different from showing off pictures of your thumbprint on the streets?” said another.