China to monitor it’s population very closely August 12, 2007
Posted by Al in : politics,scary , trackbackIt’s no surprise to see that China is going to become the first country to monitor it’s population to such a level where school grades, purchases, reproductive history and movement is constantly recorded. What is a surprise is the very high tech way they plan on carrying this out, given that they are still officially a developing nation, and that the technology will be coming from their arch enemy of old – the USA.
Living in Britain I know how easy it is to ignore, and forget about, the surveillance cameras that watch most main streets, according to every ip camera website I’ve ever read. I carry on my life knowing that these cameras are watching me, as are the unmarked police cars with video equipment and data links, and I’m not surprised to leave my house and find a camera van recording the traffic – checking for no road tax, no insurance, no MOT, no seatbelt and speeding.
However, I’m not worried that when I’m walking my movements might be tracked at an individual level, which is what the face recognition software China intend to use will do. I think that once state monitoring gets to this level it becomes oppressive, and I’d hope that the public being monitored might stand up and make their government realise this; but I really cannot see this happening in China, and even more worryingly in Britain. This war on terror we are supposed to be involved in has made everyone quite happy to hand over their rights to a state which promises to look after and protect them, even if this protection involves monitoring and limiting our own lives.
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