Hong Kong plans to install thousands of surveillance cameras. Critics say it’s more proof the city is moving closer to China
Hong Kong plans to install thousands of surveillance cameras. Critics say it’s more proof the city is moving closer to China
Glance up while strolling through parts of downtown Hong Kong and, chances are, you’ll notice the glassy black lens of a surveillance camera trained on the city’s crowded streets.
…
Though it consistently ranks among the world’s safest big cities, police in the Asian financial hub say the new cameras are needed to fight crime – and have raised the possibility of equipping them with powerful facial recognition and artificial intelligence tools.
That’s sparked alarm among some experts who see it as taking Hong Kong one step closer to the pervasive surveillance systems of mainland China, warning of the technology’s repressive potential.
Hong Kong police had previously set a target of installing 2,000 new surveillance cameras this year, and potentially more than that each subsequent year. The force plans to eventually introduce facial recognition to these cameras, security chief Chris Tang told local media in July – adding that police could use AI in the future to track down suspects.
This would've happened under British rule too. We have them everywhere here
Doesn't Britain have the best public surveillance in the world?
Wouldn't surprise me
London has been close to China for 30 years by that logic
Surely you must’ve read the article and understand the actual cause for concern. For example, from the article, 8 of the 10 most surveilled cities are in China:
According to an analysis by Comparitec, eight of the top 10 most surveilled cities in the world per capita are in China, where facial recognition is an inescapable part of daily life – from the facial scans required to register a new phone number, to facial recognition gates in some subway stations.
Where those cameras have been used in repressive ways:
In the far-western region of Xinjiang, Beijing has used cameras to monitor members of the Muslim-majority Uyghur population. And when unprecedented nationwide protests broke out in late 2022 against the government’s strict Covid policies, police used facial recognition along with other sophisticated surveillance tools to track down protesters, The New York Times found.
In terms of surveillance. It has been.
Have you been to Beijing?
CNN - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for CNN:
MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Mostly Factual - United States of America
Wikipedia about this source