By: Estefania Re
Surveillance technology walks a dangerous line between safety and privacy. Chinese surveillance is known to be one of the most advanced in the world, and they are actively working to spread their tech all over the world.[1] The Chinese surveillance system includes over 200 million cameras perched high above Chinese cities. They record at all times and use artificial intelligence (AI) with a facial recognition database that contains the faces of all 1.4 billion Chinese citizens.[2]
Citizens are consistently being monitored through their ID cards, phones, and voices. Every person must have an ID card that must be registered with a record of their face in order to purchase a SIM card and use their phone.[3] Therefore, every person’s phone number is connected to the government database; when someone signs up for something using their phone number, their identity is immediately apparent and linked back to the government.[4] Law enforcement has even collected voice samples of people in an effort to develop the individuals full profile to make sure individuals are easier to track down.[5]
As of 2019, Chinese firms have provided this AI technology to sixty-three countries.[6] Huawei, themselves, have supplied the technology to fifty countries worldwide.[7] Some firms even give out loans to incentivize governments to purchase their technology, this is particularly effective for third-world countries like Kenya and Uganda.[8] Ecuador has been using the surveillance technology to monitor its population of over sixteen million.[9] The country has seen positive results, with its crime rate dropping by twenty-four percent since the installation.[10] Additionally, the technology is being used in 800 locations around Serbia.[11] The technology has even made its way to the United States—in River Park Towers, government housing for low-income families in New York City, which is actively monitored by the NYPD.[12] The system has already helped the NYPD locate a criminal.[13] A man wanted by the authorities walked into the community to see his friend, the software then alerted law enforcement of his whereabouts and he was shortly apprehended.[14]
However, the complexity and abundance of data collected raises several concerns. Firstly, the vast spread of Chinese technology has individuals worried the data collected from different parts of the world may be linked or sent back to China to advance the interests of the Communist Party.[15] This concern is corroborated by leading surveillance company, Huawei, who advertises the technology using a story of a Serbian suspect in a hit-and-run who was later found in China when Serbia shared the data with the Chinese government.[16]
Additionally, there are concerns of other governments using the technology to control individuals with differing opinions and obtain certain political objectives. In Serbia, there have already been reports of the government abusing the technology[17] when authorities identified anti-government protesters using the tech.[18] There have also been reports of countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia abusing the technology.[19]
Furthermore, the influx of widespread surveillance technology illustrates a slippery slope toward programs like China’s social credit system. The program gathers information from the multitude of video cameras and an algorithm monitors any possible crime being committed and reports it to the police.[20] Citizens are even assigned a “citizen score” that is based on the video monitoring, whether the individual writes any anti-government posts, what they purchase, and even the type of behavior of individuals the citizen may be friends with.[21]
Although this “citizen score” is only in China, the widespread adoption of the first step of the program, the surveillance technology, suggests a worrisome trend of China leading the way to constant monitoring of civilians.
[1]Arjun Kharpal, China’s Surveillance Tech is Spreading Globally, Raising Concerns About Beijing Influence, CNBC, (Oct. 8, 2019), https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/china-is-exporting-surveillance-tech-like-facial-recognition-globally.html
[2] Arjun Kharpal, US Takes Aim at Chinese Surveillance As the Trade War Becomes a Tech Way, CNBC, (May 26, 2019), https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/27/china-mass-surveillance-state-technology-at-center.html
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6]Id.
[7] Steven Feldstein, The Global Expansion of AI Surveillance, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, (Sep. 17, 2019), https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/09/17/global-expansion-of-ai-surveillance-pub-79847
[8]Id.
[9] Jun Mai, Ecuador is Fighting Crime Using Chinese Surveillance Technology, South China Morning Post, (Jan. 22, 2018), https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2129912/ecuador-fighting-crime-using-chinese-surveillance
[10] Id.
[11] Dusan Stojanovic, Chinese People-Tracking Cameras are Spreading Nations Vulnerable to Human Rights Abuse, USA Today, (Oct. 16, 2019), USA Today https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/10/16/huawei-surveillance-cameras-spread-china-serbia-and-elsewhere/3995561002/
[12] Stephen Chen, The Chinese Technology Helping New York Police Keep a Closer Eye on the United States’ Biggest City, South China Morning Post, (Jan. 11, 2019) https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2181749/chinese-technology-helping-new-york-police-keep-closer-eye-united
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Arjun Kharpal, China’s Surveillance Tech is Spreading Globally, Raising Concerns About Beijing Influence, CNBC, (Oct. 8, 2019) https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/china-is-exporting-surveillance-tech-like-facial-recognition-globally.html
[16] Dusan Stojanovic, Chinese People-Tracking Cameras are Spreading Nations Vulnerable to Human Rights Abuse, USA Today, (Oct. 16, 2019) https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/10/16/huawei-surveillance-cameras-spread-china-serbia-and-elsewhere/3995561002/
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Steven Feldstein, The Global Expansion of AI Surveillance, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, (Sep. 17, 2019), https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/09/17/global-expansion-of-ai-surveillance-pub-79847
[20] Anna Mitchell and Larry Diamond, China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone The Atlantic, (Feb. 2, 2018) https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/china-surveillance/552203/
[21] Id.
