You guys wanna see what a police state looks like?
I was walking home one night and it just struck me how many cameras are actually following my every move.
In this video, I count the cameras I pass in an under 4 minute walk. After the video I pass another 4 in the last 45 seconds or so of the walk (didn't wanna give too much of my location away).
That gives a total of 23 cameras in 3 minutes and 5 seconds.
This is not unusual. China is putting Billions into CCTV and even more billions into AI and facial recognition. In fact, China is putting more billions into a single AI technology park in Beijing - 2.4 billion dollars - than the US put into its entire AI industry in 2016. China plans to make the industry worth over 150 billion dollars by 2030,
In the end, they can pick out a criminal in a live concert crowd in the dark and flashing lights within seconds and capture (as has been done), and literally track the movement of a stolen bike wherever it goes and catch the criminal minutes later.
They are able to recognise your face and put a name and ID to you, they can put your face to the license plate of a vehicle, access your social media, bank account and 'ranking' - a whole other dystopian concept put in place - all with street cameras and AI.
If you feel this technology is far-fetched, take a look at this somewhat terrifying reality:
What did China decide to call this advanced system?
I'm not kidding.
Here's another specifically looking at facial recognition:
The bonus is, since everybody in China has to mandatorily register pretty much every aspect of their life, nobody is anonymous in any context, and all information inss available for the servers to quickly bring up all your friends and family when needed.
Cool eh??
Omg that is sick and scary! I heard they were planning to launch a system giving people a citizen's score or something like that, based on behaviour, shopping habits etc. Is that true?
Not cool!
Yep. Already in place in some locations, and private businesses are already taking the initiative where it isn't yet. Last I heard, 4 million people were banned from using trains and hundreds of thousands more from planes. Many get publicly shamed with a giant picture of their face and their low rank below them with big red words like 'filed for bankruptcy'.
Pretty scary indeed =/
That is terrifying to say the least. Imagine what they can do to any individuals posing a threat to the government's interests by raising awareness. They could basically frame anyone for anything and destroy their lives. There's no democracy when the government has such limitless power over its citizens. And there's no way to overthrow a dictatorship if the government decides to turn into one.
Jesus. I saw a Black Mirror episode like that once.... fuck.
Yep it has frequently been compared to black mirror but in many ways, things are even worse!
This looks and feels scary. On the one hand you have the "alibi" of security but on the other... anonymity Poof! gone!
Yeahhh if you got nothin' to hide, who needs privacy eh??
I hate it when people say that.
That's just like saying "I don't care about freedom of speech, I got nothing to say" :P
Privacy is overrated when it comes to "feeling safe"
Any variant has positive and negative sides.
Blockchain implies full transparency, too. Everything is determined in whose hands the power is concentrated.
In general, it is necessary to pay tribute to the intellect of the people who built such a system.
Interesting topic, good and informative publication.
And what about the developers of this technology?
What about them?
They are part of the surveilled society too, aren't they? ;)
They probably built in a self-destruct mechanism if they were ever watched themselves
It's amazing how much China is pushing AI research. If you look at top cited AI researchers, you see it's mostly Chinese scientists. I wonder what they're up to.
This is an interesting report on the subject:
https://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Deciphering_Chinas_AI-Dream.pdf
Yeah they love that stuff. They say facial recognition is really hot right now in China. I think it's hot just because the CCP tells us it's hot. Complete control is a dream come true!
This is a cool looking report, got it open on a tab to check out in a bit =D
What ever happened to privacy!?
Im all for the use of these to track bad people but if its used against the population for control and fear this needs to go!
SKYNET?? REALLY???
Upvoted and Followed!
China loves getting their governance ideas from dystopian sci-fi movies! No joke!
This is scary as hell. So, someone knows everything about me, where am I going what am I doing, even when I am picking my nose.
Well if you're picking your nose in public everyone will know that information whether they like it or not =P
I didnt think like that before, got a master idea:P Every time people passing near those cameras they should look at the camera and pick their nose by intention. Maybe they will be pissed of and stop this sickness, doing it five days is enough XD
This is actually a possible reality in Chinese history! During the era of Mao Zedong - who hated intelligent people - there was a push to silence and purge scholars and anyone who could be smart enough to question him, so there was a culture around acting dumb and like a common farmer or whatever. Whenever government forces were around people would spit on the floor or snort their nose to sound uncivilised so they wouldn't risk getting persecuted!
It's hard to know how much truth is in this story, but it would explain why everybody spits everywhere these days!
I didn't know that, so, my nose picking theory was long invented in China, doesn't wonder me through in Bangladesh people almost do the same as we have the same problem, I mean the Mao zedong as we cant afford the high-tech camera XD I live in Serbia though, i think 5-6 days ago they added something over every traffic signals which makes some weird sounds. I am wondering, what are they after reading your post.
These are some awesome techs. Now my interest has been piqued. But hope these would not contravene privacy laws?
It is goodbye to anonymity :)
Yep... and this is just the beginning!
I read that there is a lot of demand for this kind of surveillance system in autocratic regimes around the world. China has already started to export this technology. Greatly increases the ability of government to control their citizens
Yep, though they have a lot more up their sleeves than simple surveillance, I assure you
@mobbs - between outdoor cameras, smart devices, and all these new smart devices for in-home placement (that will be listening to you and soon watching you), there will come a day soon where it will be virtually impossible to be unobserved. Unless you go into the wilderness. Then, they will tag us and observe us from satellites and drones. Yikes...
In China it almost is allready at that point, especially in oppressed regions such as Xinjiang. But that's another story
I travelled around the UK a lot in the 1990s...today the UK scares me. What happened to the spirit of democracy, justice and fair play? Soon to be a police state in all but name....
I like how you did the video with the creeping suspicious music, makes it extra creepy. I don't know why they would call themselves skynet given the reputation of that name. Nothing ever good comes from it :o