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Jaywalkers Under Surveillance In China Will Soon Be Punished Via Text Messages (scmp.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from South China Morning Post: Traffic police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have always had a reputation for strict enforcement of those flouting road rules in the metropolis of 12 million people. Now with the help of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology, jaywalkers will not only be publicly named and shamed, they will be notified of their wrongdoing via instant messaging -- along with the fine. Intellifusion, a Shenzhen-based AI firm that provides technology to the city's police to display the faces of jaywalkers on large LED screens at intersections, is now talking with local mobile phone carriers and social media platforms such as WeChat and Sina Weibo to develop a system where offenders will receive personal text messages as soon as they violate the rules, according to Wang Jun, the company's director of marketing solutions.

For the current system installed in Shenzhen, Intellifusion installed cameras with 7 million pixels of resolution to capture photos of pedestrians crossing the road against traffic lights. Facial recognition technology identifies the individual from a database and displays a photo of the jaywalking offense, the family name of the offender and part of their government identification number on large LED screens above the pavement. In the 10 months to February this year, as many as 13,930 jaywalking offenders were recorded and displayed on the LED screen at one busy intersection in Futian district, the Shenzhen traffic police announced last month. Taking it a step further, in March the traffic police launched a webpage which displays photos, names and partial ID numbers of jaywalkers. These measures have effectively reduced the number of repeat offenders, according to Wang. The next step -- informing the errant pedestrians by text or Weibo instant messaging -- could have the added benefit of eliminating the cost of erecting large LED screens across the cities, he said.

23 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. So What? by dohzer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So what?! It's not like the government has a ranking system that denies them the ability to travel out of the coun... oh... wait.

    1. Re:So What? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Uber has the technology already developed to punish jaywalkers.

  2. Once more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is building a world I don't particularly want to live in.

    1. Re: Once more by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm pretty sure that after WWII, the Chinese don't like J-walking any more than they like anything else coming from Japan.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Once more by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is building a world I don't particularly want to live in.

      Indeed, it's not like this system couldn't be used to pick out who doesn't give a standing ovation at a communist party rally, or identify who doesn't smile and salute as the military parade goes by.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Once more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, it's a darn good thing we in the US of A have all those gosh-darn gun rights. It just makes sure IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE.

      Why if our government tried anything like that we'd all just pick up our AR-15s and march down to the Capitol and....

      Hey, where'd everybody go?

  3. Wrong way around by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Shaming pedestrians for crossing safe roads (I assume they are not suicidal) while the president makes himself an all-powerful dictator makes a fine country indeed. I'd rather have a country where corruption is automatically shamed.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
    1. Re:Wrong way around by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Shaming pedestrians for crossing safe roads (I assume they are not suicidal) while the president makes himself an all-powerful dictator makes a fine country indeed. I'd rather have a country where corruption is automatically shamed.

      By definition, future God-Emperor, "Gee KingPin" cannot be corrupt because he is the law.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:Wrong way around by tepples · · Score: 2

      Alternative source for those whose subscription package happens not to include Washington Post: "Study: Obama Had Worst Record in Supreme Court in Modern History" by Elizabeth Harrington

    3. Re:Wrong way around by jittles · · Score: 2

      Shaming pedestrians for crossing safe roads (I assume they are not suicidal) while the president makes himself an all-powerful dictator makes a fine country indeed. I'd rather have a country where corruption is automatically shamed.

      My experience in China is that, yes, this is the wrong way around, but not in the way you’re suggesting. Instead, they should be going after people who run red lights in vehicles. I’ve walked somewhere in the 100 mile range in the streets of China and have almost been hit by vehicles disobeying a red light on average at least once every 10 miles. And that is NOT including the times I’ve stopped to avoid people running a red light. Those are strictly the times where I didn’t realize I was about to get run over.

      China is pushing electric vehicles hard. They’re quiet enough that you had better have your eyes glued to oncoming traffic, even when you have right of way, or you just might get killed!

  4. Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... paragraph 213/b-N of civil of conduct in traffic. 4 points have been subtracted from your citizen performance measure. You are now -72 of average at a level of 968. Have a profitable day Sir and please comply with the law and the codes of conduct. - Big Ching is watching you.

    Levels and Punishment
    950 - 50 hours of social work
    900 - 100 hours of social work, public shaming and +30% on your rates for public transport
    750 - 500 hours of social work
    400 - permanent containment until debt of 300 points is recovered (20pt / Quarter)
    300 and below: Inmediate recycling of all your personal biomaterial at the nearest biorecycling facility

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    1. Re:Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by ITRambo · · Score: 2

      I wonder how many "rebels" will wear masks, sunglasses, wigs, overcoats, and walk with a limp as they jaywalk, just to "beat the man".

    2. Re:Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by MrKaos · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wonder how many "rebels" will wear masks, sunglasses, wigs, overcoats, and walk with a limp as they jaywalk, just to "beat the man".

      It doesn't matter. I don't know if you have seen what they are using, it's an AI augmented camera array that picks up multiple markers of a persons identity, they are really pretty scary.

      One of the things it does is provide descriptions of offenders in real terms like "suspect is moving west, red shirt, black shorts, black hair, 5'3", white shoes". Worse they pick up mood, so it can tell if you are pissed off.

      It's about the most intrusive thing I've ever seen AND if you are paying attention politicians used some awful tragedy to implant the idea into peoples conscious that these sorts of camera arrays are a necessity and all the ones I saw on news reports talking of the need for it so they prepare the way for legislation to mandate these devices.

      I wouldn't be surprised if you see it soon.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    3. Re:Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by mysidia · · Score: 2

      it's an AI augmented camera array that picks up multiple markers of a persons identity, they are really pretty scary.

      Nothing a suitably equipped drone or bunch of radicals hiding under blue bedsheets with cans of spraypaint to target the lenses of the camera arrays couldn't take care of....

    4. Re:Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 2

      I wonder how many "rebels" will wear masks, sunglasses, wigs, overcoats, and walk with a limp as they jaywalk, just to "beat the man".

      None? It's a communist dictatorship, not an American high school.

    5. Re:Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by gnick · · Score: 2

      ...radicals hiding under blue bedsheets with cans of spraypaint...

      The Chinese have ways of dealing with radical activists.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    6. Re:Citizen, you have violated section c of ... by gnick · · Score: 2

      Yes. More LCD monitors. Because the Chinese treat radical activists the same way they treat jaywalkers. I'm not even going to bother digging up examples of how wrong this is.

      Only works if they can (1) figure out who they are before, during, and after, and (2) catch them.

      How many cameras do you think your hypothetical activist is going to compromise before police decide to stop the guy wearing a blue bed sheet carrying a can of spray paint?

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  5. Psychological warfare. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is just another part of government of Xi's psychological warfare on the people. They are sending the message that they are God and a lack of reverence will be punished. The point is to keep people thinking that the government has absolute control and thus any challenge to it would be futile.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  6. Did you hear the one... by puddingebola · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did you hear the one about the guy who got a photo from an automated speed camera? There was a picture of his car and a letter saying he was going 80 mph, and the fine was $200. He took a photo of $200 and mailed it back to them.

  7. Re:Air quality sucks. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    They all look the same anyway.

    Come on, you were all thinking it.

  8. Re:IN AZ jwalkers get auto killed by self driving by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    today it is like that but down the road the state can use that to get rid of people and make it look like an accident

  9. Tomorrow's headline by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mattel Electronics sues China for the name "Intellifusion" which is too damn close to "Intellivision".

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  10. John Spartan by unixcorn · · Score: 2

    You have been fined one credit for the violation of the verbal moralaity act......