Oddbean new post about login | logout I am skeptical- but could see it. Lived in China for half a decade and most of what you see is a facade. There are absolutely millions of cameras covering every inch of public space- but the question is if they work/if the tech is actually there yet. I was robbed in 2018. Police laughed and shrugged off my story until realizing that CCTV captured the ENTIRE interaction from the gang first making contact with me up until taking my money and kicking me to the curb. They had detailed images of the perpetrators faces. Absolutely nothing came out of the investigation. I see a few possible scenarios: 1. Police were paid off and working with this organized crime syndicate 2. The surveillance tech China brags about absolutely sucks (though it certainly could have improved after 6 years) 3. Police don’t care about helping foreigners. Either way… privacy is going to be all but dead everywhere on earth.
It's conceivable that this somewhat works. Even if half the pictures are the wrong random white guy. The more interesting question is what they do with the information. Does it add that much to the records they already have from your cellphone and KYC wifi use? Maybe, if you were seen talking to someone. But I also suspect much of this is theatre. The guy at customs probably enjoys showing off his fancy tools. And the CCP likes you to see them, so that on your next visit you behave. Anyway, may we live in interesting times...
The perpetrators were Chinese (men and women). There was 20+ minutes of extremely clear CCTV imaging of their faces and identifying features from multiple angles. If the CCP “face scanning tech” is as sophisticated as they want to rest of the world to believe- they could have located the individuals in a matter of minutes. I suspect it is not. Still scary knowing that it will be soon (or is now).
