Security cameras were found to have been installed in the private rooms of at least 10 Beijing Haidilao restaurants, China’s most famous hot pot chain, stirring up heated debate about possible invasion of privacy, mainland Chinese media reported.

State-run newspaper Legal Daily quoted a man named Zhang who said he noticed closed-circuit television cameras “in every corner” of a Haidilao restaurant at a mall in Beijing’s Chaoyang district while dining there recently. The CCTVs were present even in the private rooms, and customers did not seem to notice they were being watched, the article said.

The paper randomly surveyed 10 Haidilao restaurants in Beijing and found that all were equipped with surveillance cameras, some with two in each private room. None of the shops displayed notices about CCTVs being in operation, nor did any staffers tell patrons they were under surveillance.

A staffer at another Haidilao restaurant in Chaoyang told Chinese news website Jiemian.com it was a company requirement for security cameras to cover each seat, and that it was the same at all other branches.

The requirement was to prevent food safety incidents, and could also provide evidence in the case of customers losing their personal belongings, the staffer explained.

A media spokesperson for Haidilao told media it was to “protect diners’ safety” and stressed that they “respected their customers’ privacy.”

The discovery stirred up debate online, with internet users saying that the installations could infringe privacy. One article on Sina.com said consumers considered private rooms as more intimate spaces, and if cameras recorded their each and every move, including private conversations, “how would that be different than eating in the lobby?”

China’s constitutional law, criminal law and civil code stipulate that the people’s right to privacy, the peacefulness of private life, and private information is protected by law, and should not be illegally intruded on, used or disclosed, according to the Sina.com article.

It added that security regulations in Beijing required all medium to large catering businesses to display notices that labeled areas as “image information collection points.” The regulations did not include private dining rooms in the list of collection points.

Another Chinese article quoted a legal scholar as saying it was a clear invasion of privacy if restaurants did not notify customers that they were under monitoring, although it was rare for dining outlets to do so in reality.

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