Ads....Ads....Ads.....They are everywhere.... (1 Viewer)

[KitaYama]

China’s latest “smart” public toilet rollout is drawing backlash after videos revealed a new system that rations toilet paper behind ads and paywalls. One viral clip from China Insider shows a woman forced to scan a QR code and watch an advertisement just to receive a single strip of paper. The dispenser then offers more for a small fee—charging 0.5 yuan (about $0.07) per strip.

This isn’t the country’s first attempt to tech-police public restrooms. Back in 2017, tourist sites installed facial recognition systems that limited users to one 60-centimeter strip every nine minutes. That policy was later adjusted to ten minutes. But the newest version, tied to mobile payments and ads, has ignited fresh criticism online. Many are calling it invasive and dystopian, with some vowing to bypass the system altogether by carrying their own toilet paper.

Someone commented on social media :
If I’m watching ads for TP, I’m shit**in on the floor.

 

[moke123]

Some enterprising kid should ditch their lemonade stand and set up shop nearby.

 

[Cotswold]

They are probably switching on the phone camera as well.
All electric cars and some other newer cars have microphones and cameras inside and outside.
MG and all other Chinese cars no doubt download everything for whatever reason. So if you have an MG, apart from knowing exactly where you have been. Beijing also knows what everyone in the car looks like and what is said. You may even have an MG app on your phone to further assist them in their weird authoritarian obsession. Mind you silicone valley isn't much less intrusive.

 

[BlueSpruce]

They are probably switching on the phone camera as well.
All electric cars and some other newer cars have microphones and cameras inside and outside.
MG and all other Chinese cars no doubt download everything for whatever reason. So if you have an MG, apart from knowing exactly where you have been. Beijing also knows what everyone in the car looks like and what is said. You may even have an MG app on your phone to further assist them in their weird authoritarian obsession. Mind you silicone valley isn't much less intrusive.

We now have a mass proliferation of license plate readers so anyone can find out where you have been driving at any given time.

 

[Cotswold]

We now have a mass proliferation of license plate readers so anyone can find out where you have been driving at any given time.

I've thought for maybe ten years, nothing is private anymore.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I am reminded of the character John Spartan from the movie Demolition Man, in which Officer Spartan is brought out of cryosleep to help deal with a criminal who also escapes cryosleep. Jonh discovers that in the future, toilets don't use paper any more. Instead, they have three seashells - which are never fully explained, though we can guess. At first bewildered, he then remembers that you get a printed "public vulgarity" notice if you use bad language. So he curses up a storm, takes a fist-full of printed tickets in hand, and heads for the toilet.

Which leads to the question of whether you guys know about country outhouses that have red corncobs and white corncobs, and the proper way to use them.