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

[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

[AdamG]

By 2020, the country plans to give all its 1.4. billion citizens a personal score, based on how they behave, according to CBS News. The government started working on its so-called social credit system back in 2014, which ranks citizens on their trustworthiness, including whether they jaywalk, buy Chinese-made products, what they post online, and whether they smoke in nonsmoking areas. Those deemed trustworthy can get discounts on energy bills and better interest rates at banks, while those considered untrustworthy can reportedly be stopped from buying property and even high-speed internet.

https://www.fastcompany.com/40563225...m-is-expanding

[AdamG]

Ask critics of police face recognition why they're so skeptical and they'll likely cite unreliability as one factor. What if the technology flags an innocent person? Unfortunately, that caution appears to have been warranted to some degree. South Wales Police are facing a backlash after they released data showing that their face recognition trial at the 2017 Champions League final misidentified thousands as potential criminals. Out out of 2,470 initial matches, 2,297 were false positives -- about 92 percent.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/polic...203500811.html

Added by Moderator, a longer article:http://www.wired.co.uk/article/face-...-hill-carnival

[AdamG]

SAN FRANCISCO -- You probably know where your Social Security card, birth certificate and other sensitive information is being stored, but what about your genetic material? If you or your child was born in California after 1983, your DNA is likely being stored by the government, may be available to law enforcement and may even be in the hands of outside researchers, CBS San Francisco's Julie Watts reports.

KPIX has learned that most parents are not getting the required notification. We've also discovered the DNA may be used for more than just research.
In light of the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook scandal and the use of unidentified DNA to catch the Golden State Killer suspect, there are new concerns about law enforcement access, and what private researchers could do with access to the DNA from every child born in the state.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/califor...CNM-00-10aac3a