Government Surveillance of the People. Ho hum.
China is rolling out high-tech surveillance of the population in a relatively affluent part of the main land. Not a huge surprise, really. It's not too startling that there is so little criticism or comment appearing in the media. Yet... the same ethical problems exist now as existed before the World Trade Centre was destroyed and the War on Terror was declared. Think back to the time of the Tiananmen Square protests. The Berlin Wall fell later that year, and there was a sense of momentum toward a global freedom that would not be repealed or rolled back. People would not stand for it. Not ever again.
At that time, the idea of routine application of face-recognition technology to passing crowds was considered intrusive, something that free people would not tolerate. Similarly, for the United States to detain and torture of people without due process or even decent evidence of wrongdoing was an unimaginable thing.
The tycoon behind the development and use of the face-recognition technology is quoted as saying that he was inspired by George W Bush. Means for closer monitoring of large numbers of people in public places would be required for the implementation of the kinds of policies that Bush was calling for. In New York, similar technology is being used to monitor licence plates on cars, but not faces, as there is doubt that the technology is accurate enough to use without the risk of false arrests. The Chinese government, apparently, does not fear it's people quite as much as governments in the West. But as the technology improves, or as a whole generation grows up with anti-terrorism restrictions, the surveillance will come.
Perhaps I've been naive, but it's only now that George Orwellesque measures are being applied in China that I realise that the destruction of the World Trade Centre was the point at which* the introduction of routine surveillance of the public in public spaces became not a question of 'if', but a question of 'when'.
*Absent any kind of mass protest by the general population, or a major catastrophe which cripples the progress of civilisation's evolution.
At that time, the idea of routine application of face-recognition technology to passing crowds was considered intrusive, something that free people would not tolerate. Similarly, for the United States to detain and torture of people without due process or even decent evidence of wrongdoing was an unimaginable thing.
The tycoon behind the development and use of the face-recognition technology is quoted as saying that he was inspired by George W Bush. Means for closer monitoring of large numbers of people in public places would be required for the implementation of the kinds of policies that Bush was calling for. In New York, similar technology is being used to monitor licence plates on cars, but not faces, as there is doubt that the technology is accurate enough to use without the risk of false arrests. The Chinese government, apparently, does not fear it's people quite as much as governments in the West. But as the technology improves, or as a whole generation grows up with anti-terrorism restrictions, the surveillance will come.
Perhaps I've been naive, but it's only now that George Orwellesque measures are being applied in China that I realise that the destruction of the World Trade Centre was the point at which* the introduction of routine surveillance of the public in public spaces became not a question of 'if', but a question of 'when'.
*Absent any kind of mass protest by the general population, or a major catastrophe which cripples the progress of civilisation's evolution.
posted by Jac | 8:45 pm
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