Mass surveillance in China
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Mass surveillance in the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(PRC) is the network of monitoring systems used by the
Chinese central government The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the pre ...
to monitor Chinese citizens. It is primarily conducted through the government, although corporate surveillance in connection with the Chinese government has been reported to occur. China monitors its citizens through
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
, camera as well as through other digital technologies. It has become increasingly widespread and grown in sophistication under
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP)
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
's
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
.


Background

Mass surveillance has significantly expanded under the
PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
Cybersecurity Law (2016) and with the help of local companies like
Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...
,
Dahua Technology Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. is a partly State-owned enterprise, state-owned publicly traded company based in Binjiang District, Hangzhou, which manufactures video surveillance equipment. It was founded and controlled by Fu Liquan. Dahua T ...
,
Hikvision Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd., often shortened to Hikvision, is a Chinese state-owned manufacturer and supplier of video surveillance equipment for civilian and military purposes, headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Due to it ...
,
SenseTime SenseTime () is a Hong Kong-headquartered artificial intelligence company with offices in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. The compa ...
,
ByteDance ByteDance Ltd. () is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Founded by Zhang Yiming, Liang Rubo and a team of others in 2012, ByteDance developed the video-sharing social networking ...
,
Megvii Megvii () is a Chinese technology company that designs image recognition and deep-learning software. Based in Beijing, the company develops artificial intelligence (AI) technology for businesses and for the public sector. In 2019, the company wa ...
,
Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
and
ZTE ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, opt ...
, among many others. As of 2019, it is estimated that 200 million monitoring
CCTV cameras A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose ...
of the "Skynet" system have been put to use in
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
, four times the number of surveillance cameras in the United States. By 2020, the number of surveillance cameras in mainland China is expected to reach 626 million. The
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
has accelerated the implementation of mass surveillance as it has provided a plausible pretext to do so.


History


Origin

Mass surveillance in China emerged in the Maoist era after the establishment of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1949. Mao invented this mechanism of control that encompassed the entire nation and its people in order to strengthen his power in the newly founded government. In the early years, when technology was relatively undeveloped in China, mass surveillance was accomplished through disseminating information by word of mouth. Chinese people kept a watchful eye on one another and reported inappropriate behaviors that infringed upon the dominant social ideals of the time. According to a publication from 1987, computer and Internet technology spread to China in the late 20th century as a result of the
Chinese economic reform The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of C ...
.


21st century

In 2005, the Chinese government created a mass surveillance system called Skynet. The government revealed Skynet's existence in 2013, by which time the network included over 20 million cameras. In addition to monitoring the general public, cameras were installed outside mosques in the
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
region, temples in Tibet, and the homes of dissidents. In 2017, the
Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...
encouraged the use of various
mobile phone app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...
s as part of a broader surveillance push. Local regulators launched mobile apps for national security purposes and to allow citizens to report violations. As of 2018, the most notable surveillance mechanisms were mass camera surveillance on the streets, internet surveillance, and newly invented surveillance methods based on social credit and identity. As of 2018, the Chinese central government had also adopted facial recognition technology,
surveillance drone A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, reconnaissance, observ ...
s, robot police, and big data collection targeting online social media platforms to monitor its citizens. In 2019
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
whistleblower
Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
said China's mass surveillance mechanisms and machinery of private communications was "utterly mind-boggling". As of 2019, it was estimated that 200 million monitoring CCTV cameras of the "Skynet" system had been put to use in mainland China, four times as many as the surveillance cameras in the United States.
State media State media or government media are media outlets that are under financial and/or editorial control of the state or government, directly or indirectly. There are different types of state and government media. State-controlled or state-run media a ...
in China claim that Skynet is the largest video surveillance system in the world, utilizing
facial recognition technology A facial recognition system is a technology capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verification services, and ...
and
big data analysis Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
. In 2019, ''Comparitech'' reported that 8 out of 10 most monitored cities in the world are in China, with
Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
,
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
and
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
being the world's top 3. In 2019, China supplied surveillance technology to most of the world, and positioned the country in control over the
mass surveillance industry The mass surveillance industry is a multibillion-dollar industry that has undergone phenomenal growth since 2001. According to data provided by ''The Wall Street Journal'', the retail market for surveillance tools has grown from "nearly zero" in 20 ...
. According to industry researcher
IHS Markit IHS Markit Ltd was an information services provider that completed a merger with S&P Global in 2022. Headquartered in London, it was formed in 2016 with the merger of IHS Inc. and Markit Ltd. History IHS Information Handling Services (IHS) "was ...
, at the end of 2019 there were 770 million surveillance cameras in the world, with approximately 415.8 million of them located in China. If these trends continue, by the end of 2021 there will be about 1 billion in the world and 540 million in China. The government says this prevents crime, but citizens worry that their data and privacy could be compromised. In late October 2020, Deng Yufeng, an artist, used performance art to highlight how difficult it is to dodge the view of security cameras.


Timeline

* In 2011, the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission proposed a
mobile phone tracking Mobile phone tracking is a process for identifying the location of a mobile phone, whether stationary or moving. Localization may be effected by a number of technologies, such as the multilateration of radio signals between (several) cell towers o ...
program, to be called the Information Platform of Real-time Citizen Movement, which was ostensibly intended to ease traffic flow on the city's streets. * In the four years up to 2012, 100,000 crimes supposedly had been solved with the aid of surveillance cameras in Guangdong according to officials. However, a critic said that "one of the most important purposes of such a smart surveillance system is to crack down on social unrest triggered by petitioners and dissidents". * In 2013, the government saw the severe atmospheric pollution in Chinese cities as a security threat because the closed-circuit television cameras were rendered useless. In December 2013, the Vice Minister of the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Chinese government, established in March 2008, is the state agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireless ...
asked
China Telecom China Telecom Corp., Ltd. is a Chinese telecommunications company. It is one of the red chip listed companies of state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. Its H shares have been traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 15 Novembe ...
, a major landline and mobile telephone company, to implement a real name registration scheme. * In 2014, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology followed with a request to regulate the dissemination of objectionable information over the network. Also in 2014, China used a government-backed brain and emotional surveillance project on an unprecedented scale in factories, public transport, state-owned companies and the military. * In January 2014, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television announced that users who wished to upload videos to Chinese web sites would be required to use their real names. The agency explained that the requirement was meant to prevent vulgar content, base art forms, exaggerated violence and sexual content in internet video having a negative effect on society. *According to an official document released in 2015, the Chinese government aimed to build a nationwide video surveillance network by 2020 to ensure public security, which will be omnipresent, fully networked, working all the time, and fully controllable. * In 2016, China introduced a cybersecurity law requiring internet companies to store all network logs for at least six months and to store all personal data and critical information within mainland China. Also in 2016, China deploys AnBot Police Robot equipped with stun weapon and facial recognition cameras start patrolling the Shenzhen airport. * In 2018, Chinese law enforcement officials were equipped with facial recognition
Smartglasses Smartglasses or smart glasses are eye or head-worn wearable computers that offer useful capabilities to the user. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are some ...
in order to apprehend criminals, especially drug smugglers. The technology was originally adopted at the 2017 Qingdao International Beer Festival. With its assistance the police claimed to have captured many criminals, including 25 fugitives, 19 drug smugglers, and 37 plagiarists. Also in 2018, Chinese authorities admitted for the first time that they could access
WeChat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...
users' deleted messages without their permission. The Chaohu city discipline inspection and supervision commission retrieved a suspect's entire conversation history that had already been deleted in one incident. * In March 2019, China announced a regulation on small video apps to help prevent teenagers'
internet addiction disorder Problematic internet use or pathological internet use is generally defined as problematic, compulsive use of the internet, that results in significant impairment in an individual's function in various life domains over a prolonged period of time. ...
. It allows related apps to forcibly trigger "teenager mode" by tracing users' location and analyzing their behavior. It was used in all small video apps by June 2019. In 2019, China announced that the third generation of
Resident Identity Card The Resident Identity Card () is an official identity document for personal identification in the People's Republic of China. According to the second chapter, tenth clause of the ''Resident Identity Card Law'', residents are required to apply ...
s will be able to trace location. Blood information will also be collected and recorded in the card. * In 2020, Chinese law enforcement officials wore "smart helmets" equipped with AI-powered infrared cameras to detect pedestrians' temperature amid the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The smart helmets, used by the Chinese police, also have facial recognition capabilities, license plate recognition and the ability to scan QR codes.


Technologies


Internet

The Chinese government has been strengthening its tight control over the Internet and digital communication. There are more than 750 million Internet users in China, and their online actions are strictly regulated. In 2017, the
Cyberspace Administration of China The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC; ) is the central internet regulator, censor, oversight, and control agency for the People's Republic of China. The office also holds the administrative title of the party's Office of the Central C ...
(CAC) released a new regulation, which imposed restrictions on the production and distribution of online news. The regulation required all platforms, such as online blogs, forums, websites, and social media apps to be managed by party-sanctioned editorial staff. These staff must obtain approval from the national or local government Internet and information offices and be trained by the central government. As required by the Chinese government, major internet platforms and messaging services in China established elaborate self-censorship mechanisms. Some have hired teams of thousands to police content and invested in powerful
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
algorithms. In 2019, on the 30th anniversary of the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
, China's AI censors cranked up. Launched in 2011, WeChat, China's most popular messaging app, is under surveillance by
Internet police Internet police is a generic term for police and government agencies, departments and other organizations in charge of policing Internet in a number of countries. The major purposes of Internet police, depending on the state, are fighting cyber ...
. Any message sent through a WeChat group is monitored by the Chinese technology giant Tencent, the application's operator. All conversations are stored for six months. Even conversations deleted by WeChat users can be retrieved back by Tencent, especially when government authorities seek evidence of a suspect's illegal activities. Authorities have admitted that they can retrieve archived messages once sent on WeChat. Nevertheless,
Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...
CEO
Ma Huateng Ma Huateng (, born on October 29, 1971), also known as Pony Ma, is a Chinese billionaire business magnate. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Tencent, one of the most valuable companies in Asia, one of the largest intern ...
stated that his company will not use user chats for
big data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
analysis or invade users' privacy. In 2017, the Chinese government required all users of
Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...
,
microblogging Microblogging is a form of social network that permits only short posts. They "allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links",. Retrieved June 5, 2014 which may be the major reason for ...
site, to register with their real names and identity numbers by September 15 of that year. Weibo users who refused to register their accounts with real names were not able to post, repost, and comment on the site. At the beginning of 2018, Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, claimed that WeChat's monthly active users across the globe reached a billion for the first time. Since Tencent cooperates with the central government to implement self-censorship and mass surveillance, it enjoys dominance of its industry in China. Other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and Line are mostly blocked or even forced out of the Chinese market. Chinese Internet users have several ways to circumvent censorship.
Netizen The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words ''internet'' and '' citizen'', as in a "citizen of the net" or "net citizen". It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the Internet in general.
s generally rely on
virtual private network A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...
s (VPNs) to access blocked websites and messaging apps. However, in July 2017, the Chinese government required telecommunications carriers including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom to block individual access to VPNs by February 1. In August 2017, more than 60 VPNs, such as Astrill and Express VPN, were removed from China's App Store. VPNs that are allowed to be used in China must be approved by state regulators and use the state network infrastructure. Instead of sensitive words which can be censored online, Chinese netizens use puns and Chinese homophones to communicate.


Sex and pornography on the Internet

The Chinese government has been denouncing sex and pornography culture and actively establishes "sex education" for teenagers and high school students in order to prevent them from developing an interest in this culture. the most frequent way Chinese people were accessing otherwise banned sexual material was through the Internet. According to a 2012 article, the number of sex-related pages was increasing at the time. China's Ministry of Public Security had collected intelligence agents from student groups to spy on people's internet activities. When government efforts at porn censorship and surveillance heightened in 2010, instances of erotic activism also emerged online. movies, books, comics, and videos involving sexually sensitive or provocative material were typically banned on Chinese Internet. Web administrators have been seeking sexual information online to remove it as soon as they found it or otherwise censor it. , there have been sections in China's criminal law which explicitly forbid the production, dissemination, or sale of obscene material, for which people can be imprisoned. In the 1980s, there was a campaign against "spiritual pollution", referring to sex-related content. In 2018, a Chinese erotic writer who wrote and sold a gay porn novel named ''Occupy'' online was sentenced to a ten-and-a-half year prison sentence. , conservative attitudes toward sex talk have remained standard amongst the general public.


Surveillance cameras

By 2018, the Chinese government had installed close to 200 million surveillance cameras across the country, which amounts to approximately one camera per seven citizens. At the same time, approximately 40 million surveillance cameras were active in the United States in 2014, which amounts to approximately one camera per eight citizens; however, these are largely installed by homeowners and stores rather than the government. According to official statistics in 2012, more than 660 of the mainland's 676 cities use surveillance systems. In
Guangdong province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
, 1.1 million cameras were installed in 2012, with plans to increase the number to two million by 2015 at a predicted cost of 12.3 billion yuan. By 2020, the Chinese government expects to integrate private and public cameras, leveraging the country's technological expertise in facial recognition technology to build a nationwide surveillance network. The facial recognition technology has technological and systematic limitations. For example, a supervisor at an AI firm that provides research support for this technology has stated that the system of activity profile can only look for a maximum of a thousand people in one search. Additionally, the system cannot work continuously for long periods of time, requiring reactivation in cases of extreme need. The National Information Security Standardization Technical Committee (全国信标委生物特征识别分技术委), which is subordinate to the
China Communications Standards Association The China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) is a Chinese professional standards organization with the responsibility for developing communications technology standards. The organization was founded on 18 December 2002, by the Chinese Min ...
, started a project in November 2019 to create mandatory standards for facial recognition in China. The project is led by SenseTime and has been assigned to a working group comprising 27 Chinese companies. Also Chinese companies are working to shape
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
' standards for facial recognition, video surveillance of cities and vehicles, with ZTE, Dahua Technology, China Telecom and others proposing standards to the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
(ITU).


Other digital technologies

China has highly advanced facial recognition technology. The technology is integrated with others, such as big data and AI, to build a national surveillance and
data sharing Data sharing is the practice of making data used for scholarly research available to other investigators. Many funding agencies, institutions, and publication venues have policies regarding data sharing because transparency and openness are consid ...
platform. The smart system is equipped with facial recognition technology to record jaywalkers and non-motor vehicles that break traffic rules. When shopping in the self-service markets of Alibaba and Jingdong, two top Chinese e-commerce companies, customers can use electronic payments through the facial recognition system, which links them with their bank cards. Moreover, Baidu, a Chinese multinational technology company, cooperated with China Southern Airlines to install the facial recognition technology in
Nanyang Jiangying Airport Nanyang Jiangying Airport () is an airport serving the city of Nanyang in Henan Province, China. It is located near Jiangying, in Wancheng District, east of the city center. The airport was opened in October 1992 and expanded in 1998. It is ...
,
Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
for boarding. Robot police have been installed in public places such as train stations, museums, and tourist attractions. Furthermore, the Chinese government uses big data technology in order to analyze and monitor people's online behavior, such as Sesame Credit, which ranks its users based on their online activities along with its previously mentioned functions.


Mainland China


Social credit system

In connection with camera surveillance, the Chinese government was believed to be developing a social credit system that gives their citizens a numerical score by analyzing their social behaviors and collecting fiscal and government data, and accordingly punishing and rewarding them with that score. However, new reports state that such information false, with the social credit system being low-tech, with no unified score for citizens and mainly focusing on fraudulent and unethical businesses who renege on debt repayments, financial agreements or fail to honor legal contracts.


Smart cities

Smart cities A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in retur ...
began rolling out in 2003 and China is host to hundreds of smart city pilot programs aiming to measure, track and analyse data from every aspect of city life including air quality, traffic flow, congestion and waste water disposal. A key component of smart cities includes the installation of public security cameras in order to more effectively deter crime and anti-social behaviour, however critics have stated the projects are also used as a form of social control in order to target dissidents and crackdown on any potential unrest.


Skynet

Skynet is an interlinked system of facial recognition software enabled surveillance cameras currently in operation in 16
Chinese provinces The provincial level administrative divisions () are the highest-level administrative divisions of China. There are 34 such divisions claimed by the People's Republic of China, classified as 23 provinces (), five autonomous regions of China, au ...
used to help public security organs crack down on crime and identify citizens in public through cross reference with criminal and national identity databases held by the Ministry of Public Security and the National Citizen Identity Information Center (NCIIC). According to CCP-owned tabloid ''
Global Times The ''Global Times'' () is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the ''People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese ultra-nationalistic perspective. The publi ...
'', the system is fast enough to scan the entire population of the People's Republic of China in under a second and allegedly has an accuracy rate of 99.8%


Police cloud

In 2020, reporting by
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
indicated that public security bureaus (PSB's) across the country began implementing "Police Cloud" systems in order to aggregate data from healthcare, social media activity and internet browsing activity, reportedly to track and predict the activities of activists, dissidents, and ethnic minorities, including those alleged to be in possession of "extreme thoughts". The
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (), commonly referred to as ''Zhongyang Zhengfawei'' (中央政法委, literally "Central Poli-Legal Commission") in Chinese, is the organization under the Central Committee of the Chinese Commu ...
plans to construct a network of police clouds in every provincial and municipal public security bureau, eventually interlinking them together in one unified national police cloud system. The police cloud system aims to integrate information from all available sources to public security bureaus including but not limited to: residential addresses, family relations, birth control information, religious affiliations, hotel, flight records, train records, biometrics, CCTV footage, mail delivery information and information shared across from other government departments. Reporting by
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
also revealed PSB's also intended to purchase data such as navigation data on the internet (browsing histories) and the logistical purchase and transaction records of major e-commerce companies from third party brokers in order to more effective predict crime while crack down and target any potential dissent.


Sharp eyes project

Sharp eyes () is a project which aims to aims to surveil a hundred percent of public space using surveillance in China by 2020, according to the 13th Five Year Plan released in 2016. Although it is questionable whether such targets outlined in the plan have been achieved, the 14th Five Year Plan continues with the project, instructing public security organs to: "closely guard against, and crack down on, the infiltration, sabotage, subversion and separatist activities by hostile forces"


Digital RMB

Digital RMB or digital Yuan is a centralised digital currency issued by the
People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC or informally PBOC; ) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China, responsible for carrying out monetary policy and regulation of financial institutions in mainland China, as determined by ...
(PBOC) in order to facilitate transactions as a supplement and possible eventual replacement of a physical national currency. As of 2021, the project is still pilot stage rolling out across select Chinese cities. Widespread adoption would theoretically allow authorities to see economic activity in real time in addition to all financial transactions which occur in an economy leading to greater surveillance and ability to maintain social control using techniques such as restricting transactions of certain entities or groups, optimising surveillance to the individual level.


Public records

The public records or Dang'an () literally: "archived record/file". Is a permanent dossier or archival system that records the "performance and attitudes" of citizens of mainland China. Together with the current system of household registration, the
Hukou system ''Hukou'' () is a system of household registration Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database h ...
, it has been an important mechanism of social control. The contents of the file include physical characteristics, employment records, photograph, appraisals by supervisors and peers, academic reports from primary school to university, professional credentials, criminal convictions or administrative penalties, club/society memberships, employment records and political history such as membership in the
Communist Youth League The Communist Youth League of China (CYLC), also known as the Young Communist League of China or simply the Communist Youth League (CYL), is a youth movement of the People's Republic of China for youth between the ages of 14 and 28, run by the ...
and or party membership. If an individual is a party member, the file will also include membership assessments of political integrity and performance of duties. Death certificate and eulogy may also be placed in file. In 2001, a human rights group claimed Public Security Bureaus located throughout the country were in the process of digitising hundreds of millions of dang'an. The dang'an system is the precursor or foundation of the social credit system in that data stored within dossiers are pulled into a broader pool of data and amalgamated together with data pulled from other sources in order to provide a more complete picture of an individual's movements, actions and life.


Resident Identity Card

All Chinese citizens are required to hold a national identity card from the age of 16. The resident ID card () acts as a national ID card and contains basic identifying information such as photograph, residential address, gender, ethnicity, date of birth and fingerprints of both thumbs embedded on an
IC chip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny M ...
. Card information is stored within the National Population Basic Information Database () administered by the Ministry of Public Security,
Ministry of Civil Affairs The Ministry of Civil Affairs is a ministry in the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for social and administrative affairs. It was founded in May 1978, and the current Minister is Tang Dengjie. Its precedent was the Mini ...
and the
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of People's Republic of China is a ministry under the State Council of China which is responsible for national labor policies, standards, regulations and managing the national social security ...
. The resident ID card acts as the primary form of identification for citizens within China and is required for almost all basic government services and administrative tasks in everyday life. In March 2022, Chinese
premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...
Li Keqiang Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affai ...
stated that the government was planning the roll out of digital national ID cards with national rollout scheduled for an unspecified date.


Household registration

Household registration or
Hukou ''Hukou'' () is a system of household registration used in mainland China. The system itself is more properly called "''huji''" (), and has origins in ancient China; ''hukou'' is the registration of an individual in the system (''kou'' lit ...
() has been in existence since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and since imperial times. The "Hukou" or family registration system lists the members of an individual's immediate family and any extended relatives which may be connected to the individual in addition to births, deaths, marriages, divorces and relocations and other movements. Hukou is divided into either agricultural or urban status and acts as a form of social control through restricting the area in which an individual and his or her children can obtain access to education, healthcare, housing, employment and or other government services. The system also acts as a convenient method for the state to exert collective punishment i.e. individuals who commit or engage in acts of dissent may have their family arrested or detained for leverage. In recent years Hukou information has been utilised extensively to suppress dissent both at home and abroad in Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, specifically
operation Fox Hunt Operation Fox Hunt ( zh, 猎狐专项行动, p=Liè hú zhuānxiàng xíngdòng, s=猎狐专项行动) is a Chinese covert global operation whose purported aim is anti-corruption under Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping's adminis ...
in which suspects accused of corruption in China are coerced into returning to home to face charges for fear of consequences which may befall their family and or extended relatives residing in country. The Ministry of Public Security manages the National Basic Population Information Database (NBPIB) as part of the
Golden Shield Project The Golden Shield Project (), also named National Public Security Work Informational Project, is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project in ...
which contains digitised Hukou information in addition to information on past travels and criminal history. The database contains information on 96% of the Chinese population. Household registration is governed by the "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Household Registration" issued in 1958 which states:


Residency registration

In accordance with the Entry Exit Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, all persons entering the country or upon moving to each new region within China must register their residency by obtaining a temporary residence permit at the nearest Public Security Bureau or PSB within 24 hours of arrival. Failure to do so may result in fines of up to 2,000 RMB or detention. Hotels hosting the stay of foreigners or non-PRC nationals are obligated to report and upload information to platforms stipulated by the PSB's in each respective area. The regulation is reminiscent of
soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
practice in that it is designed to closely surveil all foreign nationals in the event they may be potential spies which pose a risk to national security in addition to being able to quickly respond or detain anyone who may be in violation of laws or disrupt public order.


Grid based social management

On July 11, 2020, state media outlet
Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
announced that local party committees and officials including neighbourhood management committees would be empowered to engage in law enforcement activities and hand out administrative punishments of residents within their perimeters. According to a high level opinion document: " fficials attownship, village and neighbourhood
evel Evel, Ével, or EVEL may refer to: People *Evel Knievel (1938-2007), American stunt performer *Evel Dick (Richard Louis Donato, born 1963), American winner of the reality game show ''Big Brother 8'' Other uses *Ével, a river in France *EVEL, or ...
shall be given administrative law enforcement powers...while existing law enforcement powers and resources shall be integrated". According to directives sent out in 2018, the grid system carves up city neighbourhoods into a grid pattern containing 15-20 households per square, with each grid appointed a designated monitor who reports back on residents' affairs to local party committees. According to reporting by RFA the task of a "grid monitor" for a neighbourhood committee is to: "fully understand the residents of their grid, including exactly who lives where, which organizations they belong to, and the sort of lives they lead". The devolvement of law enforcement powers down to the county and village levels has been described as "unprecedented" with potential to lead to "major turmoil" and social unrest due to the fact village and local party cadres lack the ability or necessary legal knowledge to enforce laws.


Real name registration

Since all citizens of China are required to carry a national ID card, the resident ID card is the only acceptable form of government issued identification for a variety of services including the purchase of SIM cards, plane tickets, high speed train tickets, banking, financial services, education and healthcare. Further, real name registration is mandatory for internet access in China and as of December 2019, the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Chinese government, established in March 2008, is the state agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireless ...
required that all individuals wishing to purchase SIM cards in China submit to facial recognition scans in order to tie mobile phone numbers, text messaging and internet browsing activity to real name identities. The Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China passed in 2017 by the Standing Committee of the National Peoples's Congress (NPCSC) mandates that providers of instant messaging services, telecommunications and internet service providers companies as well as domain name registration providers verify the real ID of users prior to provision of service.


Internet browsing history

As a result of the passage of the cybersecurity law, network operators (widely believed to refer to internet service providers) are required to maintain unspecified "network logs" for at least 6 months. Although the exact definition of what constitute network logs remains unclear, it has been interpreted by
Jones Day Jones Day is an American multinational law firm. As of 2021, it was the eighth largest law firm in the U.S. and the 13th highest grossing law firm in the world. Originally headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Jones Day ranks first in both M&A le ...
and other international law firms to refer to web logs or internet browsing history.


National Citizen Identity Information Centre (NCIIC)

In 2007, the state-run
China Internet Information Center China Internet Information Center (; or 中国网/网上中国) is a state-run web portal of the People's Republic of China and published under the auspices of the State Council Information Office and the China International Publishing Group. I ...
reported that the world's largest ID database hosting over 1.3 billion entries was complete. NCIIC or the National Citizen Identity Information Center is located in Beijing and is the backbone of the National ID card system used throughout China by banking, financial services, healthcare, education and various government agencies, the law enforcement apparatus, internet service providers and social media platforms to verify the real ID information of users and customers who wish to use their services.


Biometrics Collection and Entry Exit Law of the People's Republic of China

From 8 February 2021, Chinese embassies started requiring the submission of biometrics including photographs and the fingerprints from all 10 fingers as a pre-requisite for visa applications. Since February 2017, the Ministry of Public Security in conjunction with its child agency
China Immigration Inspection China Immigration Inspection (Abbreviation: CII; ) is the government agency responsible for controlling the sea, air and land border checkpoints of the People's Republic of China. It is a child agency of the National Immigration Administration (N ...
(CII) have required all foreign nationals entering the People's Republic of China to submit biometric information including an in person facial scan and as well as fingerprints from all 10 fingers as a national security measure. Legislative basis is provided by article 7 of the Entry Exit Administration Law of the People's Republic of China and since implementation, the scheme has already resulted in the cancellation of some covert dual citizenship holders attempting to obtain or renew Chinese passports (
Chinese nationality law Chinese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The primary law governing these requirements is the Nationality Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into ...
does not allow for
dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...
). Current biometrics scanning equipment used by China Immigration Inspection is manufactured by Chinese company Max Vision.


Facial recognition scanners and security checks in subway stations

Following an attack at the Kunming railway station in
Southern China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...
, the Chinese government began mandating security screening prior to entrance at metro and train stations across China. In 2021 four subway stations in Guangzhou began in the southern city of
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
began allowing people to use a biometric security gate instead of going through a security check by station staff. In 2019, the South China Morning Post reported that
Beijing metro The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Direct-controlled municipality, Municipality that consists of 25 lines including 20 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and 2 light rail lines, and List of Beijin ...
would also begin sorting passengers using facial recognition based on information pulled from the
social credit system The Social Credit System () is a national credit rating and blacklist being developed by the government of the People's Republic of China. The social credit initiative calls for the establishment of a record system so that businesses, indivi ...
and criminal offending databases. Commuters who exhibited anti-social behaviour or had previous bad credit scores would also be penalised under the system.


Tibet and Xinjiang

In mainland China, one of the most important ongoing projects is a Skynet project with an installation of more than 200 million video surveillance cameras. The real-time pedestrian tracking and recognition system can precisely identify people's clothing, gender, and age, as well as both motor and non-motor vehicles. Additionally, the surveillance system can instantly match a person's image with their personal identification and information.
Golden Shield The Golden Shield Project (), also named National Public Security Work Informational Project, is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project in ...
is a giant mechanism of censorship and surveillance that blocks tens of thousands of websites that may present negative reports about the CCP's narrative and control.


Tibet

The Chinese government sent groups of cadres to Tibetan villages as part of the Benefit the Masses campaign in 2012. The purpose of the campaign was to improve service and living quality in
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
and to educate the locals about the importance of social stability and adherence to the CCP. The local people were also supervised in order to prevent uprisings from taking place. In Tibet, users of mobile phones and the Internet must identify themselves by name. The government reported that the program had reached full realization in June 2013. An official said that "the real-name registration is conducive to protecting citizens' personal information and curbing the spread of detrimental information". In 2018, during the Saga Dawa, the holy fourth month for Tibetan Buddhists, the government enforced stricter rules in Lhasa, according to the ''Global Times''. People were also discouraged from engaging in religious practices in this month. When they did, they were supervised closely. As a method of protesting, some Tibetans have engaged in immolation, which is a tradition of protest against Chinese control that was first practiced in the mid-20th century.


Xinjiang

In Xinjiang and especially its capital city,
Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
, there are security checkpoints and identification stations almost everywhere. People need to show their ID cards and have their faces scanned by cameras at a security station before entering a supermarket, a hotel, a train station, a highway station, or other public place. The ratio of police officers stationed in Xinjiang to population is higher than elsewhere. This strict enforcement of security checks is partly a response to the separatist movement in 2009 associated with
Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
. Additionally, the cameras on streets are denser there than elsewhere, numbering 40,000. The information collected by the cameras is matched with individual profiles, which include previously collected
biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...
data, such as DNA samples and voice samples. People are rated on a level of trustworthiness based on their profiles, which also takes into account their familial relations and social connections. These levels include "trustworthy", "average", and "untrustworthy". The data is fed into the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (), an AI-powered system used for mass surveillance which generates lists of suspects for detention. Xinjiang residents, especially those from the Uyghur ethnic group, are not allowed to practice certain religious acts. They are also more actively and strictly monitored by surveillance apps, voice printing, and facial recognition cameras. Since 2017, the government has set up internment camps in Xinjiang to force citizens into compliance. People in the re-education camps are usually closely watched by guards and are not allowed to contact others outside the facilities, including family members and other close relations. They learn about Mandarin Chinese characters and the rules that they need to follow in those camps as well as outside once they leave. The security spending in Xinjiang ballooned in 2017, witnessing an increase of 90% to $8.52 billion as compared to that in 2016. Since at least 2017, Chinese police have forced Uyghurs in Xinjiang to install the Jingwang Weishi app on their phones, allowing for remote monitoring of the phones' contents. That same year, Chinese drone manufacturer
DJI SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. or Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd. ( zh, c=深圳大疆创新科技有限公司, p=Shēnzhèn Dà Jiāng Chuàngxīn Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) in full, more popularly known as its trade name DJI, which s ...
signed a cooperation agreement with local police to provide surveillance drones in support of their operations. In 2018, China deployed a flock of drones disguised to look like birds to step up surveillance levels in region. The Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP, 一体化联合作战平台), used by the government to monitor the population, particularly Uyghurs, was reported by ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2018. The platform gathers biometrics, including DNA samples, to track individuals in Xinjiang. In November 2019, the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...
published the
China Cables The China Cables are a collection of secret Chinese government documents from 2017 which were leaked by exiled Uyghurs to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and published on 24 November 2019. The documents include a tele ...
, consisting of six documents, an "operations manual" for running the camps and detailed use of
predictive policing Predictive policing is the usage of mathematics, predictive analytics, and other analytical techniques in law enforcement to identify potential criminal activity. A report published by the RAND Corporation identified four general categories pred ...
and AI to target people and regulate life inside the camps. In late 2020, HRW obtained a list of 2000 names of Uyghur prisoners held in the Aksu prefecture leaked from IJOP. The list showed that reasons for imprisonment included religious practice such as studying the Koran without state permission or having a long beard, using software or online services such as a VPN, travelling outside of Aksu, switching off one's phone repeatedly, or having "extremist thoughts". The leaked IJOP list provided detailed, day-to-day evidence on the workings of the Xinjiang re-education camps that ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described as "unprecedented". An earlier list, the Karakax (or Qaraqash) list, leaked in February 2020, showed decision-making about retaining or releasing detainees.


Hong Kong

Hong Kong's
Umbrella Movement The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to dispe ...
, a pro-democracy campaign, aims to demand full democracy so that Hong Kong's citizens can have the right to nominate and elect the head of the Hong Kong government. However, key pro-democracy figures, such as some lawmakers, academics, and political activists, are under the central government's surveillance. Some activists engaged in the umbrella movement have been intimidated or arrested by policemen. News reports, social media posts, and images about Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests are censored in mainland China. Internet users and civil society groups in Hong Kong have been facing cyber-attacks and debated threats to privacy online during the past few years. In June 2014, a white paper on the "one country, two systems" agreement issued by Beijing articulated that the central government has comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong and that the power to run local affairs is authorized by the central government.


Hong Kong Identity Card

Like in mainland China, all residents of Hong Kong are required to hold an IC or identity card, known as the
Hong Kong Identity Card The Hong Kong identity card (officially HKIC, commonly HKID) is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance (Cap. 177), all residents of age 11 or above wh ...
or HKID issued by the
immigration department The Immigration Department of the Government of Hong Kong is responsible for immigration control of Hong Kong. After the People's Republic of China assumed sovereignty of the territory in July 1997, Hong Kong's immigration system remained l ...
in accordance with the Registration of Persons Ordinance (Cap. 177) stating that: "all residents of age 11 or above who are living in Hong Kong for longer than 180 days must, within 30 days of either reaching the age of 11 or arriving in Hong Kong, register for an HKID". In addition to containing standard biographical information such as name, age and sex, the card contains a chip which contains the fingerprint scans of two thumbprints of the holder. National ID's are a characteristic of surveillance states in that the ID is part of the "daily papers" individuals are required to carry on them at all times in order to access government, banking or other financial and social services. Holders of HKID's can pass through customs checkpoints faster at ports of entry throughout the city by scanning their fingerprints when entering.


National Security Law

Since the passage of the
Hong Kong national security law The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. It ...
, or 'Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region', Hong Kong has been the target of creeping authoritarianism from mainland Chinese government through a variety of methods including stacking the legislative council with pro-Beijing candidates, arrest of opposition leaders and disqualification of candidates of the legislative council considered insufficiently "patriotic". The law also created the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region otherwise known as the "Central People's Government National Security Office" (CPGNSO), an agency which allows mainland law enforcement officers and agents to operate on Hong Kong jurisdiction without permission from
Hong Kong police The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...
or the HKSAR government. On November 11, 2020, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) adopted a decision disqualifying Hong Kong legislators who "publicize or support independence", "seek foreign interference", or pursue "other activities that endanger national security". The "reforms" as referred to by Beijing, paved the way for the insertion of loyalists and subsequent proposal and passage of series of laws considered authoritarian including on patriotic education, sim card registration and laws preventing the doxing of police officers of the
HKPF The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...
.


Anti-Doxing Law

On July 21, 2021, the Hong Kong Legislative Council began talks to implement "anti-doxing" laws in response to the 2019-pro democracy protests in which members of the Hong Kong Police Force and certain judges were doxed or had their personal information such as names, addresses, names of family members, details of children and schools attended leaked to the public in retribution for violence or police brutality encountered during the course of the protests. Critics of the legislation, including human rights and tech industry groups stated that the measures could be used to protect those in power and target civil society. Under the proposed laws, violators could face fines of up to HK$1 million ($128,736) and five years in prison. The law also empowers the
Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) is a Hong Kong statutory body enforcing the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, which secured the protection of privacy of individuals. The office is headed by the Privacy Commissio ...
to access electronic devices without warrant. In response
Asia Internet Coalition The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) is a trade association co-founded by eBay, Google, Nokia, Skype, and Yahoo! in 2010. AIC lobbies government agencies to address public policy issues and facilitate the development of the internet economy in the Asi ...
an advocacy group consisting of Google, Facebook and Twitter, warned in a June 25 letter to the commissioner that tech companies could stop offering their services in Hong Kong if changes were enacted since "the measures were "not aligned with global norms and trends", and that any legislation that could curb freedom of speech "must be built upon principles of necessity and proportionality".


SIM Card Registration (Telecommunications Ordinance Amendment)

On June 2, 2021, the cabinet body of Hong Kong known as the Executive Council or "ExCo" announced from March 2022, that all purchasers of SIM cards would be required to provide their identity card number, date of birth, and a copy of their identification document when purchasing a SIM Card in Hong Kong.
Edward Yau Edward Yau Tang-wah, GBS, JP (; born 28 April 1960, Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong politician. He was the Secretary for the Environment from 2007 to 2012, and from 2012 to 2017, he was the Director of the Chief Executive's Office of Hong Kong. He ...
, the Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development described the amendment as an: "overdue move to fight crime". Yau also claimed that among the 100,000 submissions received during consultation, 70 percent supported the arrangements. According to the details of the legislation, from September 1, operators will be given 180 days to implement a system to store customers' registration details and from March 1, 2022, users would be given 360 days to register any pre-paid sim cards already in circulation. Under new arrangements, law enforcement agencies will be allowed access to information without a warrant in vaguely defined: "urgent and exceptional circumstances". The move coincided closely with the passage of the national security law and reflects parallel arrangements in mainland China where users are also required to register new SIM cards using real name identification. The move marks increasing efforts by the CCP to assert its control over Hong Kong through increased surveillance and the intrusion of digital authoritarianism. Dan McDevitt, manager of website Greatfire.org wrote on
Nikkei Asia ''Nikkei Asia'', known as ''Nikkei Asian Review'' between 2013 and 2020, is a major Japan-based English-language weekly news magazine focussed on the Asian continent, although it also covers broader international developments. It is headquartere ...
in response to the new regulations that Beijing had "brought its repressive surveillance tools to Hong Kong", gradually tightening control over the internet and eroding the privacy, forums for open communication and civil society post enactment of the national security law. Anyone found guilty of faking registration details under the ordinance liable to be jailed for 14 years.


Suspension of data requests from Hong Kong police

On July 6, 2020, social media companies such as
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
and
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
suspended processing requests for user data from Hong Kong Law Enforcement agencies out of fear the data could be used to engage suppression of political dissent and targeting of peaceful participants of the protests, owing to the overly broad interpretations of the law in respect to definitions of the incitement of "subversion, collusion, espionage" and "secession". In response to the enactment of the law,
TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...
also stated that it would exit the Hong Kong market in the days following the promulgation of the national security law.


Facial recognition checkpoints at ports of entry

Since 2017, China Immigration Inspection and the Ministry of Public Security has required submission of biometrics before entering the territory of the People's Republic of China. Fingerprints from all 10 fingers and a photograph of a person's face is also required when crossing into mainland China from any immigration control points. Over the years China has been building a large facial recognition databases for the purposes of targeting and suppressing dissent in addition to enhancing border control through the placement of entry and exit bans on corruption suspects, dissidents and targets of criminal investigations or
persons of interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no le ...
to the ruling CCP. Residents of Hong Kong have expressed fear of being unable to leave upon entering mainland China and since the anti-extradition bill and pro democracy protests of 2019, certain residents suspected of involvement in political activism and protests have been blacklisted and barred from entry into mainland China. Since 2018, HKIA (
Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...
) has also operated facial recognition and biometric smart-gates to assist passengers to pass through security and clear customs faster. Hong Kong residents are eligible for accelerated entry into Hong Kong by scanning their fingerprints and ID cards when entering Hong Kong. The machine works by cross matching information contained on the card-chip to that of the holder in order to verify the identity of the holder.


Public security cameras

According to reports by
South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...
, the city is home to some 50,000 security cameras, with some 20,000 operated by the Housing Authority of Hong Kong. It is not known whether the cameras contain facial recognition capabilities.


Installation of Cameras in Classrooms

In March 2020, pro-Beijing legislators of the
Hong Kong Legislative Council The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" constitutional arrange ...
suggested that cameras be installed in classrooms in order to monitor the contents of lectures being delivered to students in addition to monitoring the teachers themselves.


Application of Chinese law within Hong Kong


West Kowloon Station

In June 2021, the
Hong Kong Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of the High Court of Hong Kong is the second most senior court in the Hong Kong legal system. It deals with appeals on all civil and criminal cases from the Court of First Instance and the District Court. It is one of two ...
upheld the constitutional status of a controversial arrangement to allow the application of mainland Chinese law of the
West Kowloon Terminus West Kowloon station (abbreviated WEK), also known as Hong Kong West Kowloon, is the southern terminus of and the only station on the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (HSR). The station con ...
of the cross-border high speed rail way between the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong and the territory of the People's Republic of China (mainland China). The plan would mean that mainland law enforcement officials from MPS or the Ministry of Public Security and the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau would be able to enforce Chinese law inside the station and potentially arrest any dissidents of the ruling CCP when they cross over into mainland China at the checkpoint. Critics described the arrangement as infringing upon Hong Kong's autonomy and being in violation of the
Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ...
. Since 2007, a similar arrangement has operated at the border where Hong Kong jurisdiction overlaps with areas of the
Shenzhen Bay Port Shenzhen Bay Port () is a juxtaposed border crossing and a port of entry and exit between mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, located geographically in Dongjiaotou, Shekou, which lies on the southwestern corner of t ...
on the mainland. Earlier in 2019,
Simon Cheng Simon Cheng Man-kit (; born 10 October 1990) is a Hong Kong activist. He was formerly a trade and investment officer at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong. Cheng was detained by Chinese authorities in August 2019 in West Kowloon statio ...
an investment officer at the British Consulate General in Hong Kong was arrested by public security officers at the station after returning from a business trip in Shenzhen for allegedly soliciting prostitution. Cheng was a vocal activist and supporter of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.


Hong Kong-Zhuhai Macau Bridge

On 15 December 2019, the Hong Kong Immigration department received reports that a man had apparently disappeared while crossing the Hong Kong-Zhuhai Macau Bridge to
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. The bridge, since constructed in 2018 had hosted a Chinese police checkpoint staffed by officers from the mainland China Immigration Inspection agency of the Ministry of Public Security. Upon further investigation it was revealed the man had been detained by Chinese police while on his way to Macau on the Zhuhai-Macau Port Artificial Island (a section of the bridge mid-way leading into an underwater tunnel). Reports by the
Hong Kong Free Press Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) is a free, non-profit news website based in Hong Kong. It was co-founded in 2015 by Tom Grundy, who believed that the territory's press freedom was in decline, to provide an alternative to the dominant English-languag ...
revealed that officers from Guangdong Public Security Bureau had set up a checkpoint consisting of X-ray machines and facial recognition scanners ahead of an up-coming visit to Macau by CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, which had picked up the man as he crossed the checkpoint into Macau. Since the bridge was built by the
central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
, Beijing exercises jurisdictional authority over it, on the basis that the Zhuhai-Macau Port Artificial Island is part of Chinese territory. This expansive interpretation of what is considered Chinese territory reflects increasing efforts under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping's administration to increase Chinese soft power while enhancing the extraterritorial reach of its laws through actions such as the stationing of security agents outside of territories where they normally operate.


Taiwan

The "SkyNet" technology used by the Chinese government to monitor the population through pervasive cameras covers everyone appearing under the camera network, while it does not affect Taiwan. Meanwhile, Taiwanese officials have informed Taiwanese people living in mainland China about the increasing prevalence of surveillance on their activities. This has become a heightened concern since China started offering residence cards and a full national status to people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau who were living in the mainland. As a result of Beijing's initiative, individuals such as students and workers can apply for a residence permit after residing in mainland China for six months. This policy extends social service and medical benefits to them, who now enjoy those services in the same way as other Chinese citizens. Taiwanese authorities are worried about surveillance on the Taiwanese because of the residence cards issued to them, which provide their identities to the Chinese government and subject them to the same surveillance regime composed of cameras, facial recognition technology, and social credit.


Mainland travel permit

The PRC institutes a policy of mainland travel permits for "Taiwanese residents" or "Taiwanese compatriots". Since the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
claims sovereignty over Taiwan and does not officially recognise Taiwanese passports, all Taiwanese residents are required to apply for a
mainland travel permit for Taiwan residents The Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents, also known as Taiwan Compatriot Permit, is a type of travel document issued by Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the Republic of China nationals (ROC) who hold household reg ...
in order to travel to mainland China for the purposes of work, study or otherwise. As part of the application process, personal information such as biometrics, fingerprints, photograph and date of birth are collected.


Spending estimates

In 2010, domestic security expenditure exceeded spending on external defense for the first time. By 2016, domestic security spending surpassed external defense by 13%. In 2017, China's spending on domestic security was estimated to be US$197 billion, excluding spending on security-related urban management and surveillance technology initiatives. In the same year, the central government's total public security spending in Xinjiang reached 57.95 billion RMB, the equivalent of US$9.16 billion, which is ten times the spending of the previous decade. In 2018, China spent the equivalent of US$20 billion purchasing
closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
cameras and other surveillance equipment. This large number of purchases reaches half the size of the global market's, according to an estimate reported in a state newspaper.


See also

* 50 Cent Party of Chinese state paid internet commentators *
Chinese intelligence activity abroad The Government of China is engaged in espionage overseas, directed through diverse methods via the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the United Front Work Department (UFWD), People's Liberation Army (PLA); ( ...
* Digital Authoritarianism * Disease surveillance in China *
Great Firewall The Great Firewall (''GFW''; ) is the combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate the Internet domestically. Its role in internet censorship in China is to block access to selected for ...
*
Human flesh search engine Human flesh search engine () is a Chinese term for the phenomenon of distributed researching using Internet media such as blogs and forums. Internet media, namely dedicated websites and Internet forums, are in fact platforms that enable the broad ...
*
Social Credit System The Social Credit System () is a national credit rating and blacklist being developed by the government of the People's Republic of China. The social credit initiative calls for the establishment of a record system so that businesses, indivi ...


References


External links


an official document about strengthening Internet surveillance released by National Development and Reform Commission
{{Portal bar, Society, China
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
Human rights abuses in China Cyberwarfare by China