Inside China’s Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of Cameras

"...With millions of cameras and billions of lines of code, China is building a high-tech authoritarian future. Beijing is embracing technologies like facial recognition and artificial intelligence to identify and track 1.4 billion people. It wants to assemble a vast and unprecedented national surveillance system, with crucial help from its thriving technology industry...

In some cities, cameras scan train stations for China’s most wanted. Billboard-size displays show the faces of jaywalkers and list the names of people who can’t pay their debts. Facial recognition scanners guard the entrances to housing complexes. Already, China has an estimated 200 million surveillance cameras — four times as many as the United States....

'“The goal is algorithmic governance,'...

China has become the world’s biggest market for security and surveillance technology, with analysts estimating the country will have almost 300 million cameras installed by 2020. Chinese buyers will snap up more than three-quarters of all servers designed to scan video footage for faces,...

Government contracts are fueling research and development into technologies that track faces, clothing and even a person’s gait..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/china-surveillance-technology.html

Long, Scary Read

 

Good lord!
They actually have facial recognition software called "Skynet"

 

Indeed:

Someone has a sense of humor, I guess. Or maybe they just see it differently. As in, the eye in the sky is your friend

 

Yea...
I just really really hope that all that madness (massive facial scanning, AI powered sunglasses and behaviour scores attached to citizens) does not spread beyond china borders...

 

Well, I'm not optimistic about that. The justifications will be different, of course.

 

"Chinese 'gait recognition' tech IDs people by how they walk

Chinese authorities have begun deploying a new surveillance tool: "gait recognition" software that uses people's body shapes and how they walk to identify them, even when their faces are hidden from cameras.

Already used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, "gait recognition" is part of a push across China to develop artificial-intelligence and data-driven surveillance that is raising concern about how far the technology will go..."

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/chinese-gait-recognition-tech-ids-people-walk-58988215

 

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...ards-to-control-everyone.408377/#post-2791675

 

Facial recognition system accuses woman in bus ad of jaywalking
November 23, 2018
https://www.theinquirer.net/inquire...n-system-accuses-woman-in-bus-ad-of-jaywalker

 

Wow. But at least, they didn't kill her

And all news, in the end, is arguably advertising. I mean, now I know about Gree Electric Appliances! I do need a new coffee grinder. And maybe they're on Amazon. So hey

 

The case of Dong Mingzhu noted above, while relatively trivial in terms of outcome in that case, is a potent refutation of "if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear". The reality is that with mass surveillance, naive AI algorithms which auto-determine "guilt", and lack of symmetry in terms of risks and costs (LE do not bear the costs of false positives but benefit from empire building of having the systems and Keeping Us Safe), whether you like it or not, you are vulnerable to these false positives and are therefore prudent and reasonable to take steps to avoid being identified by mass surveillance.

Outcomes may be far more severe, ranging from being on watch lists, no-fly lists, and likely, no-employment lists, as well as false criminalisation. Scary stuff with no effective redress.

 

Here's what China's surveillance camera technology can do:

(Zoom with scroll wheel - Pan with left click and hold - See how far you can zoom-in)

http://sh-meet.bigpixel.cn/?from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0

 

Damn....I can see even some license plates ....

 

"Chinese schools monitor students activities, targeting truancy with 'intelligent uniforms'...

If students wear the uniforms, the school authorities receive recorded accurate timing of their entry and exit and automatically send the data to parents and teachers, said Lin Zongwu, principal of No. 11 School of Renhuai in Guizhou Province...

Through the help of the facial recognition equipment installed on the doors of schools, if students swap their uniforms, the alarm also rings.

Two chips are inserted in the shoulders of uniforms and can endure up to 150 C and 500 washes, Yuan Bichang, the company's project manager, told the Global Times...

...an automatic voice alarm activates if students wearing intelligent uniforms walk out of school without permission..."

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1132856.shtml

 

Deep Learning ‘Godfather’ Bengio Worries About China's Use of AI
February 2, 2019
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...es-about-china-s-use-of-ai?srnd=technology-vp

 

Exposed Chinese database shows depth of surveillance state

https://techxplore.com/news/2019-02-exposed-chinese-database-depth-surveillance.html

 

The Companies Behind China's High-Tech Surveillance State
February 21, 2019
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...gh-tech-surveillance-state?srnd=technology-vp

 

Latest version of gait-recognition technology rolls out in China
Limping won't fool it
February 26, 2019
https://www.techspot.com/news/78928-latest-version-gait-recognition-technology-rolls-out-china.html

 

Hikvision and Dahua webcams are a joke.
Most models have the hidden accounts 888888 and 666666 active with same passwords.
And older Dahua webcam model maximum password length is 6 characters long

 

Facial recognition in China shames jaywalking child, erupting debate
Facial recognition is commonplace in China, but concerns remain about children’s privacy
May 28, 2019
https://www.abacusnews.com/digital-...walking-child-erupting-debate/article/3012131

 

Chinese Propaganda Goes Tech-savvy to Reach a New Generation

https://www.nextgov.com/it-moderniz...-goes-tech-savvy-reach-new-generation/159111/

 

"Chinese Citizens Will Have to Scan Their Faces to Get Internet Access and New Phone Numbers

Starting December 1, Chinese citizens will have to allow telecommunications carriers to scan their faces when signing up for internet access or to get a new phone number..."

https://gizmodo.com/chinese-citizens-will-have-to-scan-their-faces-to-get-i-1838936778

 

Very disturbing and reminiscent of Brave New World. We (in the west) had better take this seriously and not go down this road.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World

 

"A Chinese propaganda app gives the government full access to 100 million users’ phone data

BEIJING — The Chinese Communist Party appears to have “superuser” access to all the data on more than 100 million cellphones, owing to a back door in a propaganda app that the government has been promoting aggressively this year.

An examination of the code in the app shows it enables authorities to retrieve every message and photo from a user’s phone, browse their contacts and Internet history, and activate an audio recorder inside the device, according to a U.S.-funded analysis..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...53bbae-eb4d-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html

 

Shanghai apartment buildings are secretly installing facial-recognition devices
October 18, 2019
https://qz.com/1729799/shanghai-apartment-buildings-secretly-install-facial-recognition/

 

More info on the facial scanning...

Beijing Launches New Rule: Residents Must Pass Facial Recognition Test to Surf Internet
https://www.theepochtimes.com/beiji...ecognition-test-to-surf-internet_3099181.html

“Even inside public restrooms, tourists and residents have to use facial recognition system to get toilet paper.”