Authorities in southern China are installing 20,000 (or more) police surveillance cameras, managed by software from an American-financed company. That spying system is designed to automatically recognize faces of criminal suspects, and spot potential crimes. And citizens of Shenzhen (pop: 12.4 million) will soon be required to carry computer-chipped residency cards programmed by that same company.
Snip from NYT story:
Data on the chip will include not just the citizen's name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord's phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China's controversial "one child" policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.
More about the US-financed company behind both technologies:
"If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future," said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology.
Incorporated in Florida, China Public Security has raised much of the money to develop its technology from two investment funds in Plano, Tex., Pinnacle
Fund and Pinnacle China Fund. Three investment banks – Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, Calif.; Oppenheimer & Company in New York; and First Asia Finance Group of Hong Kong – helped raise the money.
Link.
Here's the website for China Public Security, which maintains offices in Los Angeles and New York: Link. Here's an earlier press release from them: Link.
Image: police monitoring system, from China Public Security website.
