China's Surveillance State Will Soon Track Cars (wsj.com)

China is establishing an electronic identification system to track cars nationwide, according to a report on WSJ, which cites records and people briefed on the matter. From a report: Under the plan being rolled out July 1, a radio-frequency identification chip for vehicle tracking will be installed on cars when they are registered. Compliance will be voluntary this year but will be made mandatory for new vehicles at the start of 2019, the people said. Authorities have described the plan as a means to improve public security and to help ease worsening traffic congestion, documents show, a major concern in many Chinese cities partly because clogged roads contribute to air pollution. But such a system, implemented in the world's biggest automotive market, with sales of nearly 30 million vehicles a year, will also vastly expand China's surveillance network, experts say. That network already includes widespread use of security cameras, facial recognition technology and internet monitoring.

Comments

This is no different

[nehumanuscrede]

than the GPS enabled " digital " license plate California wants to roll out other than the different spin put on it.

China does it = Evil Surveillance State
California does it = No way we'll ever use it for nefarious purposes ! We pinky swear ! We're the good guys ! :|

Re: This is no different

[Anonymous Coward]

Plea bargains are highly abused. But the fact that you can't distinguish between a relatively recently exploited flaw in the american system and china's complete lack of habeus corpus proves you have no god damn business commenting on either. You sound exactly like the command of cheese and dictator fellating, "You think our country's so innocent?"

Re:They are already tracking cars.

[b0s0z0ku]

"Safety" is for cowards. It would have been nice if China had been less safe during the Tiananmen Square protests 30 years ago -- tank drivers getting the Mussolini treatment from students would have been a sight for sore eyes.

Re:20 years behind the US...

[ShanghaiBill]

US has EZ-Pass, which is a defacto tracking system, even if not originally designed as such.

EZ-Pass / FasTrak are opt-in, so not the same at all.

They can be legally removed from the vehicle at anytime.

Good a reason as any to do away with toll roads

[rsilvergun]

for the same reason I want Medicare for All I'd like to see toll roads go away. Some things should just be paid for by civilization as a whole. China isn't oppressing these people for shits and giggles. They're doing it because they've got massive wealth inequality and this is how you maintain a society when you've got lots of folks who lack food security and shelter. The reason you guarantee a decent quality of life is because you can't be free when somebody controls your access to food, shelter, healthcare, education & transportation. The latter being needed to access to former. Until then you're a weeks meals or a harsh winter away from doing whatever the folks in charge of the money say.

Re:Rich

[larryjoe]

This is rich. China's surveillance state. How about the UK ...

It's not the surveillance that's the problem. It's the willingness of the state to act upon that data in a way that violates human rights that is the problem.

I monitor my kids in very detailed and intrusive ways (well, at least that's what they tell me). However, I don't use that information to beat my kids when they say something bad about me. China has shown a willingness to imprison, intimidate, and physically harm based on surveillance, and that is a huge difference with most Western governments.