Next level surveillance china embraces facial recognition

Discussion Posts About China's Government

For your first post, summarize and evaluate the main ideas in He Qinglian's (pron. Huh Ching-lee-en) chapters. Does she present a utopian or a dystopian view of the role of the Internet in China in fostering greater democratization and the growth of civil society? Support your point of view with evidence (e.g., quotations, examples, facts, etc.) from He's writings.

For your second, third, and fourth posts, summarize and evaluate the other readings and videos for this week. Support your ideas/opinions with evidence (e.g., quotations, examples, facts, etc.).

Resources:

China could control the Global Internet after Oct. 1. By Joshua Phillip, Epoch Times, September 14, 2016; last updated September 24, 2016. Note: this article is related to MacKinnon’s discussion of ICANN.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-is-gaining-control-of-the-global-internet_2155380.html

ICANN, Russia, China, and Internet Reform: What You Need to Know. By Marika Van Laan, posted October 23, 2016. Note: this article is related to MacKinnon’s discussion of ICANN. If the link below doesn’t open, copy, cut, and paste the URL into your browser.

https://ramenir.com/2016/10/23/icann-russia-china-and-internet-reform-what-you-need-to-know/

The U.S. Must Not Allow Russia and China to Threaten Global Internet Freedom. By Alexandra Desanctis, September 21, 2016, National Review.com

https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/09/global-internet-freedom-us-icann-oversight-vital-check-china-and-russia/

He, Qinglian. The Fog of Censorship: Media Control in China , Introduction, “Shattering the Myths About China’s Media Market,” pp. xiii-xx (7 pages); Chapter Eleven, “The Hijacked Potential of China’s Internet,” pp. 173-202 (29 pages); Conclusion: “How Far is China From Democracy?” pp. 210-217 (17 pages).

http://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/PDFs/Reports/HRIC-Fog-of-Censorship.pdf

Ai Weiwei free to travel overseas again after China returns his passport. By Tom Phillips, Beijing, 22 July 2015. The Guardian.com

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/22/ai-weiwei-free-to-travel-overseas-again-after-china-returns-his-passport

Required Videos (total time appx. 25 min.)

China’s Secret Plan to Control the Internet. China Uncensored. (11:58 min.). Note this video is related to MacKinnon and the two articles that discuss ICANN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNZlOl-hI-M

Police Detain Artist, Activist Ai Weiwei. PBS NewsHour, (4:50 min.).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFDtMVlJCHI

Art, China and Censorship According to Ai Weiwei. PBS NewsHour (8:32 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoBP1Y-50gg

Discussion Post Sample:

The "Panopticon Effect" is a method used by the government of China to keep citizens in check at all times possible. In her book, MacKinnon describes the Panopticon Effect as a way to " give prisoners credible proof that they are under surveillance some of the time, though not all of the time. If they have no way of knowing exactly when they are being watched, they end up having to assume they are under surveillance all the time." (MacKinnon,2012, p80). Based on Bentham's design, she also argues that " When people are unaware of being monitored, at least some of the time, without clear information about exactly how and when the surveillance is taking place, against whom, and according to what specific criteria, people will choose to avoid trouble and modify their behavior in ways that are often subtle and even subconscious."(MacKinnon,2012, p80).

China's practice of the Panopticon Effect is in use as a daily routine. Citizens are constantly being monitored by face and object recognition cameras and technologies that allow government officials to acquire data and compare the data acquired against the information on a database. Facial recognition is measured by "identifying all of the faces in a given image. For each face, the algorithm measures out key data points like the distance between the eyes or the color of the skin and then use those measurements to create a template that can be compared against other faces in a database." (Wall Street Journal, 2017). Not only are the Chinese monitored by cameras, but also by the daily applications they use on their electronic devices (discussed in the last paragraph).

Everywhere in China there are checkpoints in which each citizen's id card is revised. In the video "Life Inside China's Total Surveillance State", the journalist from the Wall Street Journal makes emphasis on how strict is life for the Chinese due to the constant surveillance implemented by the government. Some of the aspects touched on the video included the fact that if a citizen wants to buy a weapon, the weapon is then "tied to the buyer's identification card" (Wall Street Journal, 2017). This enforces security and allows for faster profiling of criminals during or after the commission of crimes, however, for innocent people this seems very unnecessary. The implementation of surveillance goes above and beyond and allows the government to manipulate the citizens like puppets, and use them as a way to test new technologies.

In China, almost every citizen makes use of the "WeChat" application, which not only does it offer social network features, but also is used to "pay utility bills, pay for food, rent items, take a taxi, buy tickets for events, such as movie tickets, and even rent hotel rooms and book flights." (China Uncensored, 2017). This application offers facial recognition as well as an addition to the features mentioned above. The drawback to this application is that the government has full access to everyone's information within the WeChat databases. The government has the ability to listen to conversations over the phone due to its ability to activate microphones, as well as being capable of tracking the user's location and activities. Basically, the users have to live with the fact that they are being watched from the moment they sign up to use the app.

References:

MacKinnon, R. (2012). Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Wall Street Journal. (2017, June 27). Next-Level Surveillance: China Embraces Facial Recognition. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq1SEqNT-7c

China Uncensored (2017, August 23) WeChat: The App That's Always Watching You . Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMHwVU-8BHM

Wall Street Journal (2017, December 20). Life Inside China's Total Surveillance State. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQ5LnY21Hg