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Big Brother: A person or organization exercising total control over people’s lives.
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China’s Surveillance State Is Growing. These Documents Reveal How.
From iris scans to voice prints, phone tracking to DNA data, the Chinese authorities’ appetite for personal data is growing.
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
Our latest visual investigation — drawing from over 100k documents — reveals new details of the data-hungry surveillance state. https://t.co/qu2p59hN4C
The bidding documents often include product requirements and budget size, and sometimes describe at length the strategic thinking behind the purchases.
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
Watch our video: https://t.co/qu2p59hN4C pic.twitter.com/ndZloHrV4U
A police document on the standardization of "intelligent and safe communities" in the city of Hefei shows that the local police would access facial-recognition cameras inside the hallways in some residential compounds. pic.twitter.com/QqsUz5xiky
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
We also learned a lot more about phone-tracking technology, like Wi-Fi sniffers and IMSI catchers. It is usually used in combination with other data sources to connect people’s digital footprint to their real-life activities. pic.twitter.com/npqcmIfzNn
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
A bidding doc from Beijing shows that the police wanted the trackers to collect phone owners’ usernames on Chinese social media apps.
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
Police from a county in Guangdong bought phone trackers with the hope of detecting the presence of a Uyghur-to-Chinese dictionary app on phones. pic.twitter.com/QEJic87stf
In the city of Zhongshan, the police bought devices that could record audio in public around cameras. They plan to use software to analyze voice prints, combining voice recognition with facial recognition. pic.twitter.com/YXJz03Xwzb
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
In 2020, @emiledirks and @jleibold published a report on male DNA collection in China with @ASPI_org. Our analysis of bidding documents shows that now at least 25 provinces and regions in mainland China are doing it. https://t.co/cwryLE3y4Z
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
The Chinese authorities’ reasons for personal data collection are to solve crimes and maintain social stability. But their definition of crime is often loose and can include political dissidents. Many people in China support this approach but those who dissent are often censored.
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
Also grateful for @chinafile’s trust and patience with us. This depth of research could not have happened without their providing the set of documents. Jessica Batke and @MareikeOhlberg published a report in 2020. https://t.co/Y0Ij9N84jR
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 21, 2022
视频上传油管了，有中文字幕：https://t.co/uby1vQYdzN pic.twitter.com/G4RAwnChxs
— Muyi Xiao (@muyixiao) June 23, 2022
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