Some toilets in Beijing use facial recognition science to limit the amount of toilet paper dispensed to each individual.
By 2020, China’s government aims to make the video surveillance network “omnipresent, fully networked, always working and fully controllable,” combining data mining with sophisticated video and image analysis, official documents show.
China seeks to achieve several interlocking goals: to dominate the global artificial-intelligence industry, to apply big data to tighten its grip on every aspect of society, and to maintain surveillance of its population more effectively than ever before.
But who’s a criminal? In China, documents for the Police Cloud project unearthed by Human Rights Watch list “petitioners” — people who complain to the government about perceived injustices — as potential targets of surveillance, along with anyone who “undermines stability” or has “extreme thoughts.” Other documents cite members of ethnic minorities, specifically Muslim Uighurs from Xinjiang, as subjects of scrutiny.
Sadržaj preuzet sa ovih internet stranica:
https://thenextweb.com/security/2019/09/30/chinas-new-500-megapixel-super-camera-can-instantly-recognize-you-in-a-crowd/
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2157883/drones-facial-recognition-and-social-credit-system-10-ways-china
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/01/07/feature/in-china-facial-recognition-is-sharp-end-of-a-drive-for-total-surveillance/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-us-following-china-with-privacy.html
China’s new 500-megapixel ‘super camera’ can instantly recognize you in a crowd
Now, in an attempt to enrich its surveillance arsenal, researchers from the country have developed a 500 megapixel facial recognition camera capable of capturing “thousands of faces at a stadium in perfect detail and generate their facial data for the cloud while locating a particular target in an instant.”
The AI-based cloud camera service was developed in collaboration between Shanghai-based Fudan University and Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun, according to Global Times.
The “super camera” is also said to have the ability to shoot panoramic photos with a clear image of every single human face, something that can be put to use in extremely crowded public spots.
The facial recognition system has been designed keeping national defense, military and public security in mind, the report said, adding it could “serve as a watchdog at military bases, satellite launch bases and national borders to prevent suspicious people and objects from entering or exiting.”
The surveillance panopticon
Chinese cities are the most monitored in the world, with an estimated 200 million CCTV cameras watching over its people, a figure that’s predicted to rise 213 percent by 2020 to 626 million.
It’s no secret that China has been hard at work designing a statewide Social Credit System that employs a reputation-based behavioral scoring methodology to...
assess its 1.4 billion people and millions of businesses.
Earlier this month, the government announced plans to expand the controversial practice for a corporate ranking system of over 30 million companies in the nation.
The algorithmic governance system, which rewards good behavior with extra privileges and restricts those with lower scores from traveling, or getting government jobs, is expected to be rolled out officially next year.
The surveillance dragnet is made possible by a fleet of CCTV cameras equipped with facial recognition, body scanning, and geo-tracking technology to exert digital control and monitor individuals’ whereabouts.
Troublingly, China has taken its invasive facial recognition-enabled mass snooping infrastructure to new heights by targeting the oppressed Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province, including tracking members of the community and mapping their relations with friends and family.
Then two months ago, it emerged that the monitoring expanded beyond the residents of the region to encompass tourists, who had their phones scanned for content it considers threatening, aside from vacuuming their text messages and contacts.
The unprecedented digital spying apparatus makes China a pioneer in applying next-generation technology to constantly watch its people, potentially ushering in a new era of automated discrimination and racial profiling while building a high-tech authoritarian future.
Viewed in this light, the new 500 megapixel camera could make the country’s sweeping social control operations a lot more efficient.
Not just China
India, meanwhile, has invited bids to build a system in order to centralize facial recognition data captured through surveillance cameras across the country and match them against a national criminal database.
Not to be left behind, France plans to follow India’s footsteps with an Aadhaar-like biometric citizen ID program called Alicem that leverages facial recognition to counter identity theft and “increase confidence in electronic transactions within the European Union for online services.”
Complicating the matter is the lack of oversight and data protection regulations to prevent exploitation of such sensitive data for dubious purposes.
Facial recognition is the new hot tech topic in China. Banks, airports, hotels and even public toilets are all trying to verify people’s identities by analyzing their faces. But the police and security state have been the most enthusiastic about embracing this new technology.
The pilot in Chongqing forms one tiny part of an ambitious plan, known as “Xue Liang,” which can be translated as “Sharp Eyes.” The intent is to connect the security cameras that already scan roads, shopping malls and transport hubs with private cameras on compounds and buildings, and integrate them into one nationwide surveillance and data-sharing platform.
At the back end, these efforts merge with a vast database of information on every citizen, a “Police Cloud” that aims to scoop up such data as criminal and medical records, travel bookings, online purchase and even social media comments — and link it to everyone’s identity card and face.
A goal of all of these interlocking efforts: to track where people are, what they are up to, what they believe and who they associate with — and ultimately even to assign them a single “social credit” score based on whether the government and their fellow citizens consider them trustworthy.
In this effort, the Chinese government is working hand-in-glove with the country’s tech industry, from established giants to plucky start-ups staffed by graduates from top American universities and former employees of companies like Google and Microsoft, who seem cheerfully oblivious to concerns they might be empowering a modern surveillance state.
The name of the video project is taken from the Communist slogan “the masses have sharp eyes,” and is a throwback to Mao Zedong’s attempt to get every citizen spying on one another. The goal, according to tech industry executives working on the project, is to shine a light into every dark corner of China, to eliminate the shadows where crime thrives.
Some of the applications have a slightly gimmicky feel. A lecturer at a Beijing university was said to be using a face scanner to check if his students were bored; a toilet roll dispenser at a public facility outside the Temple of Heaven in Beijing reportedly scans faces to keep people from stealing too much paper, while a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Hangzhou allows customers to simply “smile to pay.”
At Megvii, marketing manager Zhang Xin boasts that the company’s Face++ program helped police arrest 4,000 people since the start of 2016, including about 1,000 in Hangzhou, where a major deployment of cameras in hotels, subways and train stations preceded that year’s G-20 summit.
Very likely among that number: some of the dozens of dissidents, petitioners and citizen journalists who were detained in and around the city at that time.
Frances Eve, a researcher for Chinese Human Rights Defenders in Hong Kong, argues that China’s tech companies are complicit in human rights abuses.
“It’s basically a crime in China to advocate for human rights protection,” she said. “The government treats human rights activists, lawyers and ethnic Uighurs and Tibetans as criminals, and these people are being caught, jailed and possibly tortured as a result of this technology.”
The United States, with around 62 million surveillance cameras in 2016, actually has higher per capita penetration rate than China, with around 172 million, according to Monica Wang, a senior analyst in video surveillance and security at research consultants IHS Markit in Shanghai.
Drones, facial recognition and a social credit system: 10 ways China watches its citizens
Zhou Jiaquan
Updated: 10:41am, 19 Feb, 2019
Police officers display their AI-powered smart glasses in Luoyang, Henan province. Photo: ReutersWith a population of 1.3 billion, China’s plan to create a facial recognition system that can identify people within three seconds – with a 90 per cent accuracy rate – may seem ambitious, but that does not stop it from trying.
Various cities have already started using facial recognition to name and shame minor offenders, spot a criminal among thousands-strong crowds and verify the identities of passengers at airports.
China’s mass surveillance efforts do not stop there. From tracking user activity with mobile phone applications to setting up a “social credit system” to keep tabs on its people, the world’s most populated country is taking surveillance technology to new heights.
Here are some ways China is spying on its citizens.
1. Robotic doves
Over 30 military and governmentagencies have used birdlike drones and similar machines to spy on people in at least five provinces in China. These robot birds have been designed to replicate 90 per cent of the movements of real doves; they can mimic the flapping action of a bird’s wings as they manoeuvre through the sky.
When in flight, they are so lifelike and quiet that real birds sometimes fly beside them. The drones are fitted with cameras, a GPS, a flight control system and a data link antenna for satellite communication.
2. Video surveillance
A middle school in Hangzhou installed cameras that can monitor pupils' facial expressions and attentiveness in class. Photo: Sina
It has long been understood that the Chinese government uses video to keep an eye on the country. But the scale of the endeavour is astounding.
The New York Times reported in July that China has around 200 million surveillance cameras. In 2016, privacy concerns arose when a Chinese city demanded businesses such as
In May, a middle school in east China installed cameras that could analyse students’ facial expressions to determine if they were paying attention in class.
3. Facial recognition
Taking video surveillance to terrifying new heights, China is developing a facial recognition system that can match faces to a database of 1.3 billion ID photos in seconds, with a target of achieving 90 per cent accuracy.
The system will be used for security and government purposes, such as public administration and tracking wanted suspects. This intention has raised alarm bells – mainly to do with privacy issues – among artificial intelligence (AI) experts.Already, facial recognition technology has been put to use.
A KFC outlet in Hangzhou, China, has rolled out a “Smile to Pay” system; universities use it to screen staff and students; and some toilets in Beijing use facial recognition science to limit the amount of toilet paper dispensed to each individual.
The technology has also helped police catch fugitives and shortened the immigration process.
4. Border control
Chinese borders have facial recognition checks in place. Photo: Handout.
Facial recognition technology was implemented at two border checkpoints between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in a crackdown on parallel traders
who attempted to exploit a multiple entry visa policy to buy tax-free goods in Hong Kong and resell them in mainland China.The new system checks visitors’ appearances against a database of faces and travel information and alerts customs officials if it suspects an individual of being a parallel trader.
In addition, Beijing’s new US$12 billion Zaha Hadid-designed airport, slated to open in 2019, is expected to incorporate the technology in security and immigration work. Cameras will verify identities by matching user’s faces to the national ID database.
Also, airport authorities will use facial recognition tools to match users to their luggage, which will help with baggage tracking and security risk assessments.5. Apprehending fugitives
While Beijing and Shanghai have used AI and facial recognition systems to regulate traffic and identify violators of traffic laws for some time, the southeastern city of Shenzhen began using AI to display photos of jaywalkers on large LED screens at major intersections in April 2017.
A year later, traffic police in Shenzhen started displaying photos, names and partial ID numbers of jaywalkers online.
Facial recognition technology also was reportedly used to catch three wanted fugitives at separate concerts in China. In one case, a man was identified among a crowd of about 50,000
Special glasses with facial-recognition software also have been invented for police use. During the Lunar New Year holiday travel rush, police used these glasses to search for wanted criminals at the Zhengzhou East high-speed rail station.
The device scanned passengers’ faces and activated software that matched their features to a database. As a result, at least seven fugitives related to hit-and-run and human trafficking cases were identified, and 26 cases of identity fraud broken.6. Messaging platforms
Unlike WhatsApp and Telegram, China’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, does not have end-to-end encryption. Photo: Bloomberg
In April 2018, a Communist Party anti-corruption watchdog announced in a social media post that deleted WeChat conversations from an individual had been obtained, leading to the questioning of a number of suspects.
Although WeChat’s owner, the Chinese tech giant Tencent, denied storing chat histories, the post prompted concerns among Chinese users about privacy on social media.
A court in Guangdong province recently ruled that conversations on WeChat and QQ, another Tencent-run messaging app, could be used in court as evidence.
7. Data mining from workers' brains
A brain surveillance device can fit inside a train driver’s hat. Photo: Handout
The uniforms workers wore along the production lines at Hangzhou Chongheng Electric, a factory located in Hangzhou, China, looked ordinary. But in a departure from the norm, wireless sensors were placed in uniform helmets and hats to allow the monitoring of brainwaves.
Each emotional spike, whether caused by anger, anxiety or sadness, was tracked and recognised by AI algorithms in China’s first large-scale business application of AI technology.
The move helped increase overall efficiency by manipulating the frequency and length of break times to reduce mental stress, the company said.8. Social Credit System
The Chinese government has built up a data-driven social credit system which automatically generates ratings for each Chinese citizen, business and authority based on whether the government and their fellow citizens consider them trustworthy.
First introduced in 2014, the rating system affects everything from loan approvals to permission to board flights.The system is expected to be fully in place by 2020, but is already partially in place.
In June, the government released a list of 169 people who had committed misdeeds that included provocations on flights, attempting to take a lighter through airport security, smoking on a high-speed train, tax evasion and failing to pay fines.
Those on the list ended up banned from buying train and plane tickets for a year.9. Mobile phone applications
Meitu, a popular mobile application that allows people to put virtual make-up on selfies, rose to short-lived fame in the West. Its renown cooled after media reports implied that
users’ personal and phone information were being sold, although the company denied the accusations.
A June 2016 regulations that required developers to verify user identities and save activity logs for 60 days aroused suspicion, technology bloggers and security commentators said.In the same vein, telecom equipment made by Huawei and ZTE was labelled a national security threat by the US government in 2012 while phone-maker Xiaomi has faced data privacy investigations in Taiwan and Singapore.
A June 2016 regulations that required developers to verify user identities and save activity logs for 60 days aroused suspicion, technology bloggers and security commentators said.In the same vein, telecom equipment made by Huawei and ZTE was labelled a national security threat by the US government in 2012 while phone-maker Xiaomi has faced data privacy investigations in Taiwan and Singapore.
10. Whistle-blowers
In April, China’s state security bureau set up a website for civilians to report suspicious activity that could threaten national security.
An example would be foreigners meeting “any person within China who has conducted activities endangering state security or is strongly suspected of doing so”.
The website promised rewards for information, although no details were provided. In 2017, the Beijing City National Security Bureau offered 10,000 to 500,000 yuan (US$1,600 to US$79,700) for information on spies.
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