Orwell, digital prisons and the double-edged sword of surveillance

[AdamG]

See also -

How do you spot a terrorist in a crowd? A Chinese answer
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=21043

[AdamG]

Historical footnote.

East German Snitching Went Far Beyond the Stasi

Everyone knows about the Stasi and the extent to which it spied on the East German populace. But that was only a small part of the informing that went on. New research shows that snitching was vastly more common than previously thought.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...a-1042883.html

[AdamG]

Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology
Palantir deployed a predictive policing system in New Orleans that even city council members don’t know about

According to Ronal Serpas, the department’s chief at the time, one of the tools used by the New Orleans Police Department to identify members of gangs like 3NG and the 39ers came from the Silicon Valley company Palantir. The company provided software to a secretive NOPD program that traced people’s ties to other gang members, outlined criminal histories, analyzed social media, and predicted the likelihood that individuals would commit violence or become a victim. As part of the discovery process in Lewis’ trial, the government turned over more than 60,000 pages of documents detailing evidence gathered against him from confidential informants, ballistics, and other sources — but they made no mention of the NOPD’s partnership with Palantir, according to a source familiar with the 39ers trial.

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/1...w-orleans-nopd



As the human wave attack begat the Maxim gun, as the tank begat the anti-tank rifle, so shall it ever be.
Reading/Thinking Music

If you want to avoid getting detected, don’t wear makeup that enhances facial features, like eye shadow around the eyes. Your aim is to create an “anti-face” or inverse. Harvey says, “In the animal kingdom, this inverse effect is known as countershading. A similar effect can be achieved by creating a partial inverse that targets key areas of the face. For example, darkening or obscuring areas that normally appear light, such as the nosebridge area or the upper cheek.”

https://creators.vice.com/en_us/arti...l-the-machines

[davidbfpo]

There is a parallel thread on Predictive Policing, which IIRC has a USA focus:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=12757

The Chinese use of combined surveillance and more to enable pre-emption has been covered in recent posts in this thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...p?t=246&page=8

[davidbfpo]

An article by Australia's Lowy Institute that starts looking at Presient Xi's likely longer term of office and then what is emerging in China:

Moreover, under Xi, the government has established online ‘social credit’ databases, which suggests that it could eventually roll out a single score for all Chinese citizens, comprising credit ratings, online behaviour, health records, expressions of party loyalty and other information.
The beauty of a big-data dictatorship is that it could sustain itself less through direct threats and punishment as a public spectacle, and more through ‘nudges’ to manipulate people’s perspectives and behaviour. And the more time Chinese citizens spend online, the more the government will be able to control what they see and do there.
Digital technologies will also allow the government to respond more quickly to public discontent, or to head it off altogether if it can discern or predict changes in public opinion. Given that many dictatorships collapse as a result of poor information, digital technologies could become an even more powerful prophylactic against bad decision-making than term limits.
If there is one thing that political scientists, economists and technologists can all agree on, it is that Xi is building the most powerful and intrusive surveillance regime in history.

Link:https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/ch...a-big-brother/

[AdamG]

China bans Orwell's ANIMAL FARM and the letter 'N'.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a8235071.html

I had to double-check that someone wasn't channeling a Monty Python kit.

[AdamG]

A Chinese man who was wanted by police for “economic crimes” was arrested at a music concert in China after facial recognition technology spotted him inside the venue, as reported by Abacus.

The man was attending a concert by Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung in the Nanchang, Jiangxi province when security cameras recognized him. According to the South China Morning Post, the man, only identified by family name Ao, was shocked when police approached him. Ao had driven 56 miles with his wife to attend the concert, telling authorities he felt safe in the crowd, estimated to be over 50,000, and that he would have never gone if he thought there was a chance he would be identified. “Ao was suspected to be involved in an economic crime and was listed on a national online system,” police officer Li Jin said. “He was very shocked and had a blank face when we caught him.”

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/12/1...music-festival