December 7th
While the Uyghur population in China is already being targeted by emotion recognition algorithms, facial recognition is now being applied in Henan Province to monitor journalists and other targeted people like foreign students and female migrants (potentially victims of human trafficking networks, according to China).
Journalists and students classified as “major concern” to control their movements
On September 17, the Chinese IT company NeuSoft reportedly won a tender to implement such surveillance technology. The documents of this contract were obtained by surveillance analysis company IPVM and brought to light by the BBC. Connected to thousands of cameras and data libraries, this technology is able to alert when a "person of concern" is detected. For the Henan Public Security Bureau, journalists, including foreign journalists, are classified as a “Major Concern”, with three subcategories: red for those deemed dangerous, yellow for those of “general concern” and green for those who are not dangerous. As soon as "problematic journalists" marked "red" (or "yellow", if they have already been the subject of criminal proceedings) book a ticket to travel to the province, alerts are activated. A classification would also be implemented for students: excellent foreign students, students in general, people from certain key countries, and unstable students (who do not respect school discipline). Special follow-up is planned for “wartime” situations, that is, politically sensitive periods, such as the annual meeting of the National People's Congress. During these periods, suspicious “people of concern” will have intensified surveillance, in particular through the monitoring of their cell phones.
For human rights advocates, this monitoring mechanism represents a new precedent in hostility towards the citizenry
This new technology therefore enables a personalised surveillance which will automate the state's persecution of journalists. For Sophie Richardson, director of Human Rights Watch for China, the intentions are all the more frightening, because this way we ensure that everyone knows that they can and will be monitored, but without ever knowing what could trigger hostile interest.
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