onsdag 13. mai 2020

Surveillance Increases in Xinjiang’s Residential Communities

According to a document issued by a municipal government in northern Xinjiang in 2019, residential communities in the city are ordered to install imperceptible detection systems in the name of “improving the information stability maintenance mechanism” and “strengthening social surveillance.” The systems should also be used to collect information on the movement of all people, who are identified and distributed into categories, like “blacklisted,” “persons of interest,” and alike.

Some individual verification systems used for imperceptible artificial intelligence can comprehensively analyze personal data, including biometric, for fault-proof verification of people’s identity. In a residential community visited by Bitter Winter, workers were installing new surveillance equipment on a full-height turnstile system, generally used in bus or railway stations, factories, or other public places. In Xinjiang, however, such systems are installed in regular residential communities.