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China Tries Its Hand At Pre-Crime (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the catch-em-if-you-can dept.

schwit1 writes: China's effort to flush out threats to stability is expanding into an area that used to exist only in dystopian sci-fi: pre-crime. The Communist Party has directed one of the country's largest state-run defense contractors, China Electronics Technology Group, to develop software to collate data on jobs, hobbies, consumption habits, and other behavior of ordinary citizens to predict terrorist acts before they occur. "It's very crucial to examine the cause after an act of terror," Wu Manqing, the chief engineer for the military contractor, told reporters at a conference in December. "But what is more important is to predict the upcoming activities." The program is unprecedented because there are no safeguards from privacy protection laws and minimal pushback from civil liberty advocates and companies, says Lokman Tsui, an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who has advised Google on freedom of expression and the Internet.

5 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmmm.... by kwiecmmm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think I may try to overthrow....

    Hey get away from me!!! I didn't do anything!!!!!!

  2. "Tries its hand"? I thought that was communism 101 by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >> China Tries Its Hand At Pre-Crime

    "Tries its hand"? I thought the use of secret internal police (e.g., the Stasi) charged with stamping out thought crime was covered in communism 101.

  3. Can't protect what you don't have by XXongo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The program is unprecedented because there are no safeguards from privacy protection laws and minimal pushback from civil liberty advocates and companies"

    That's because China doesn't have privacy protection, or civil liberties.

    This is China we're talking about.

  4. Re:Already done in the U.S. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Uh, no. If you're driving under the influence you are going to ruin your life and others, it is guaranteed. That isn't thought crime.

  5. Re:Hmmmm....FTFY by zlives · · Score: 4, Insightful

    hmmm.... I think ....
    Hey get away from me!!! I didn't do anything!!!!!!