Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Big Brother tosses his cookies in China

China's record of accomplishment on human rights can be judged by their actions at Tiananmen Square in 1989, where several hundred protestors were shot and killed as tanks rolled through the square to stop the protest.

Today, The New York Times is reporting, "SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 9 — At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity".

"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."

Click here for full story…

Although some security experts are reporting this is cutting edge technology, it looks more like big brother tossing his cookies in China and the people cleaning up the mess and paying the price for the rest of their lives.

I can only imagine the outcry, demonstrations and uproar if this would have been announced for any of our larger cities, such as New York. Frankly, I would have been on the front lines myself.

Some experts may call this cutting edge, but I call it government control, Once more China proves their concerns are not for their own people.