China's law enforcement now has a greater help on its mission to make sure the citizens are law-abiding in the form of facial recognition technology. At a crossing in Shenzhen, there is a giant screen displaying the faces of those who would be caught jaywalking, even though the people themselves are unaware that they were being watched in the first place.
Street-side surveillance cameras are now equipped with the most modern and sophisticated of facial recognition technology, making the jobs of law enforcers a tad easier. A local company called Intellifusion manufactured the newest technology. Although it is considered one of the smaller players in China's advanced surveillance market, the new tool is no less outstanding.
In general, China's advanced surveillance industry is booming, with two other startups SenseTime and Megvii leading the pack. The two have produced the most potent AI-powered facial recognition systems to date.
These three, coupled with others within the industry, are making it easier for the Chinese government to identify any of its 1.4 billion citizens within a matter of seconds when necessary. Moreover, they allow the government to predict who among the citizens can become a threat.
It is not surprising therefore that one of the primary customers of these startups is the government. The Chinese government acts as both the benefactor and beneficiary of these companies, in other words. For instance, SenseTime was able to sell many units of surveillance systems to over 40 municipal police forces known as the Public Security Bureaus. In turn, the Guangzhou police were able to identify over 2,000 suspects and arrest at least 800 criminals. Since using the systems last year, the Guangzhou police was able to solve nearly 100 cases.
On the other hand, Megvii launched Skynet to aid the state's nationwide surveillance program. The goal was to blanket the whole nation with CCTV through Skynet, and it was successful. AI-enhanced cameras installed since 2016 led to the apprehension of around 2,000 suspects.
Even though both Megvii and SenseTime claimed they do not have any responsibility for what the national government wants to do with their products, many are still questioning the ethics of these startups. According to Luciano Floridi of Oxford University, "just producing a tool" cannot be used as an excuse anymore. Maya Wang of Human Rights Watch also worries about the responsibility and ethics of the watchers. WIth the watchers using intelligent cameras to monitor the people, it is unclear who is monitoring the watchers themselves.
