A security camera in Beijing. (rahims/Flickr)
Under the extremely
repressive and violent Chinese Communist Party, the vast country
underwent brutal genocides of its own people, again and again.
Though that's all pushed into the woodwork now, the party has installed more than 20 million cameras across the country, according to NPR.
“Today, in Chinese
cities, cameras are everywhere: on highways, in public parks, on
balconies, in elevators, in taxis, even in the stands at sporting
events.
Officials say the cameras help combat crime and maintain "social stability" — a euphemism for shutting up critics.”
Officials say the cameras help combat crime and maintain "social stability" — a euphemism for shutting up critics.”
They named
the huge network Skynet. In China, it is also difficult to access the
internet and you can be killed—and have your organs harvested and sold
on the black market—merely for your faith.
The ultimate goal of
the camera network is highly accurate technology that can recognize
faces, allowing party officials to track “critics” in real time.
But one researcher says facial recognition is much harder on the street than at checkpoints, where it's currently used.
"Frankly,
the technology is not as good as described in the movies," Bo Zhang,
the researcher, says. "It's not that easy to find people in crowds.”
The
NPR reporter says the volume of surveillance cameras “can be
overwhelming at times.” He counted 11 cameras within a 100-foot radius.
Some
locals are unfazed, but others are very concerned, including a teacher
at Beijing's China University of Politics and Law. Officials just
installed cameras there.
“Liu
Xin, who teaches administrative law, thinks the school plans to target
teachers who might criticize China's current system in front of
students.
'Because
things are recorded, once they suspect certain teachers are problematic
... they can find the recordings and that means they've found
evidence,' Liu says.
She
says cameras will intimidate instructors from speaking their minds and
undermine learning. Liu thinks professors will just teach from textbooks
to protect themselves.
'I think teachers will lose interest and students will lose interest as well,' she says.
The
Ministry of Education declined NPR's request for an interview and
insisted that the cameras are just to deter cheating. Bo Zhang, the
analyst, estimates there are now about 30 million cameras operating in
China — or about one for every 43 citizens. He expects camera sales to
grow 20 percent annually over the next five years.”
January 29, 2013 22:31