Pedestrians walk past a machine that gives a voice prompt when it is safe to cross the street. The machine, which was installed at the intersection of Nanjing Road East and Henan Road, is synchronized with the traffic lights. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

The capital of North China's Shanxi Province exposed photos of people who run a red light in traffic, including those of minors, which sparked a debate on whether the move violates privacy rights.

The city, Taiyuan, has adopted facial recognition technology to catch people who walk or run a red light and has exposed their faces on a screen attached to the light since May 2018, guancha.cn reported Tuesday. 

According to pictures and videos spread on social media, the photos of the culprits, including minors, were displayed on the screen along with photos on their identification cards, which were not blurred. 

Local traffic police told media that the culprits' photos will be exposed for about a week, regardless of their age.

The move then sparked a debate on social media, with some questioning whether it violates people's privacy rights, especially those of minors. 

It may violate the minor's right to privacy, Zhang Zhiwei, a lawyer specializing in juvenile law, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As a vulnerable group, minors should receive special protection from society, and such punishment could have a negative effect on them, said Zhang.

However, others support the move and urged it to be used nationally to help citizens, especially minors, develop the habit of obeying traffic rules. 

"A traffic accident does not distinguish between adults and minors," Wang Chenyu, a Taiyuan-based university student, told the Global Times.

Wang said she found fewer residents running red lights, and traffic was more orderly after the city took the action. 

Violators normally would feel ashamed when seeing their image in public, which could stop them from doing it again, she said.