From Xinhua:
Con artists and swindlers in China who try to use fake ID will have a tougher time trying to pass themselves off as someone else now that the public has access to the Ministry of Public Security’s population database.
Anyone can now send a text message or visit the country’s population information center’s website, to check if the name and the ID number of a person’s identity card match. If they do match the ID cardholder’s picture also appears, said the Ministry, adding that no other information is available to ensure a citizen’s privacy is protected.
Completed at the end of 2006, China’s population information database, the world’s largest, contains personal information on 1.3 billion citizens. [Full Text]
