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China To Deploy World's Largest People Tracking Network
hackingbear writes "News.com reports that China is building the largest and most sophisticated people-tracking network in the world, all to track citizens in the city of Shenzhen. This network utilizes 20,000 intelligent digital cameras and RFID cards to keep track of the 12.4 million people living in the Southern port city. The key to the system is the new residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips. 'Data on the chip will include not just the citizen's name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord's phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China's controversial "one child" policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.' While I lived in Shenzhen, there indeed were (and still are) plenty of crimes. One of my friend who lived at the 20th floor of a condo building in a nice neighborhood saw an intruder in the middle of one night while he was sleeping. Still, this will clearly raise the fear of human rights abuses. And ... 'one of the most startling aspects of this plan is that this project is mostly made possible by an American company with solid venture fundings.'"
They're getting social security cards. How nice.
Why bother. Why not inject an RFID implant in the arms off all citizens? I mean, if your going to be treated like cattle, why not go all the way?
Moo!
Life is not for the lazy.
I live in Germany and we still got democracy here, but who guaranties me that this will be like that forever? China's use of total surveillance should be a warning to us all, what can happen too us, too.
People always say: 'I have nothing to hide, so I am not against surveillance'. They don't realize that this might change.
Yet if this were done in NYC or London, there would be a string of posts condemning such action?
Frankly, wherever something like this happens, it's something to be wary of. Given China's track record I don't think there doing it just for the fun of it.
I heard this was implemented in 1984!
todo - The developer's equivalent of confession: "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned..."
"One of my friend who lived at the 20th floor of a condo building in a nice neighborhood saw an intruder in the middle of one night while he was sleeping." Something doesn't add up here.
"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face... was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime..." - Orwell
Sure baby, I'll give you my phone number...in Hex
The problem with NYC and London is that they inflate the privacy fears among the population, while simultaneously inflating the mad bomber fears among the population, and end up leaving the population with the worst of both worlds...
Spy cameras everywhere, lots of evidence for selective enforcement should that be convenient to anyone in power, but instead of having everyone looking out for each other with this newfound access to timely information, it's just collected and stored to be used as a weapon against individuals later.
The people who live in NYC and London should be demanding that all footage from those cameras be publicly accessible, instantly and indefinitely. They should be willing to kill for it if necessary, because they will be utterly ruled by it if they don't.
Stalin himself never had it so good.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
1) Remove oponents. (Tick)
:).
2) Dumb down the population (remove the individual). (Tick)
3) Monitor & Track. (Tick)
4) Step 1.
5) Use data to make Step 2 more effective.
6) Step 3.
7) MIND CONTROL.
Now you and your friends live in luxury with 6 billion slaves at your dispense. What a warm fuzzy feeling
but what kind of infrastructure does
It doesn't take much people to monitor a system like this at all. Computers do most of the screening work to point out the small selection of people who deserve further manual investigation. The quality of the algorithms is becoming such that people will eventually not be required to intervene. The biggest problem is finding space for all the computers and data storage.
I don't think Americans would stand for it.
Americans will stand for anything. Somebody will tell them that it is a way of reducing petty crime, protecting the children, making paying for groceries easier, etc. Nowhere will it be mentioned that the entire reason for the system is to track your asses. The dumb cattle majority of people there (and around the world) will buy the lies hook, line and sinker. the masses will only work out that it's about tracking their asses when it's too late to do anything about it.
I drink to make other people interesting!
Please note, that while the UK has one of the worlds most comprehensive use of surveillance (especially in the London area) it has *NOT* reduced crime rates. That is a simple statistical fact.
I think surveillance creates a sense of false security for many less-informed people. So they demand more surveillance. The government is only happy to provide it. So are the companies contracted to implement the necessary technology. That is why the use of surveillance is increasing - even though there is clear proof it does not prevent crime (or terrorism for that matter!).
I think the "Dispair inc" poster with the group or parachuters says it all: "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". We did. Cameras on every corner and multiple RFIDs on every citizen appears to be the result.
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
Keeping track of 'minor purchases'?? Whose business is it that I buy a pack of cigarettes or some condoms or whatever? Why is the government so interested in this petty stuff unless it intends to use this info against me someday? Why does the government have cause to know who I hang with, who I sleep with?
How long until cards like this are used to replace hard currency in order to 'fine tune' the economy and strip the last vestiges of privacy? How long until having legal tender in your possession is considered a crime because 'only terrorists have untracable cash'?
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
It's not America's fault, it's the American company's fault. I think you're being a bit oversensitive - that sentence doesn't bash America, it raises alarm that our corporate community is knee-deep in China's systematic oppression of their people.
Yeah, the oppression will continue regardless of American companies' involvement, but that doesn't justify being involved.
"China to Deploy World's Largest People Tracking Network"
- We can now avoid embarrasing mistakes, like calling Greenpeace to help remove a "beached whale" that's just a "Large Person" sunbathing
- They take up too much space in checkout aisles - if we can track them, we'll know when its safe to shop
- You want to track which "all-you-can-eat" they're hanging out at tonight - so you can avoid it
- Tracking them will avoid conflicts in lineups because "they smell funny"
- Once we track them, we can make sure they're wearing their backup alarms
- We can implement "no-fridge exclusionary zones" for their own good
- In an emergency, we can locate them quickly, and line them up to use them as a defensive shield against, say asteroids
- Knowing their history, we can avoid buying cars they once owned, with their associated suspension and steering problems
- We can enhance safety by making sure that any elevator refuses to take on more than one "Huge Person"
- Instead of charging everyone more for junk food, we can only tax "Huge People"
Go, China!Name: Anonymous Coward
Address: Mom's basement
Work History: Slashdotter, Blogmaster, Burgerflippermeister
Educational Background: Wikipedia
Religion: Jedi
Ethnicity: Nerd
Police Record: Uber 1337 h4xx0r
Medical Insurance Status: Morbid obesity
Landlords Phone Number: Mom
Personal Reproductive History: NULL
[ This post is a Public Service Announcement ]
- - NOTE: Stevie is not representative of homeless people in general. For example, the fastest growing group of homeless people are women and children in dire straits, whose homelessness is caused by such events as seeking refuge from an abusive relative, death of a spouse, job loss, or illness. The comments below are specific to Stevie, not homeless people in general.
Stevie blathered:
Why not do something radical, like get a job? Oh, right ... you said you won't take a job except for one that meets your conditions. It has to be in exactly the field you claim to be so good in (though if you're that good, why don't you have a job?), at the pay you think you're worth, with the working conditions you think you deserve, that its the employers' responsibility to "give you a leg up", and that anything else is "dishonest."
Those are your words.
Take some meds, get a haircut, and start applying for a job more in line with your real qualifications, not your inflated delusion of self-worth.
The job rules are simple:
The other rules are also simple:
You're your own worst enemy. You keep complaining, but you post here under multiple accounts, whine, whine, whine about how unfair employers are and how they owe you a job with specific conditions and pay because that's what you went to school for. Grow up - because with your crap attitude, you're not even qualified for a "do you want fries with that" McJob.
You say you don't want to go into any of the programs available for the homeless because you "don't want to be stereotyped with the alcoholics and the druggies". How is anyone who thinks they're "too good" any better? You're actually worse - they at least admit they have a problem, and aren't too full of false self-pride to take advantage of an opportunity for some help.
A lot of people end up homeless due to misfortune, divorce, job loss, medical bills, addictions, bad decisions, whatever. This doesn't make them "bad people" - but your claim that you don't want to be "stereotyped" as "one of them" shows how you think yourself so much better.
Stop thinking you're better than people who had the guts to take jobs that you would consider "beneath you." You're not. You can't even troll properly, FFS.
And stop complaining about anyone stalking you; remember how you pulled this BS a couple of weeks ago ... if anyone was stalking, it was you, and this isn't the first time you've pulled this crap on someone. You're a hypocritical dickhead.
[ This has been a public service announcement. Thank you for your patience ]