aGameOfThrones
07-05-2011, 10:39 AM
http://www.fastcompany.com/1765036/how-ciscos-tech-could-help-china-spy-on-its-people
Eavesdropping On Voices, For Individuals Or Banned Words
In a nation with a censorship and surveillance ethos running through its political structure, it's also highly plausible that the surveillance camera network could be hooked up to a cell phone call monitoring system that does voice recognition. That would require enormous computing power, to sample and check for the characteristic qualities of millions of user's voices, but it's not computationally impossible--particularly if you have enough supercomputers handy. Simpler would be a system that monitors for keywords or phrases--something China has been rumored to already have in place (and it marries with fantastical rumors about similar U.S. tech). Crowd-sourced voice patterns are now a well known trick, and are key to systems like Nuance's newest voice-recognizing iPhone apps.*
Tied to the camera system it could easily be used to build a case against a citizen for breaking laws about political dissent, since pictures tell a thousand words.
Recognizing Dissidents At A Glance
Failing all of these high-tech and fairly subtle systems, it wouldn't be too far a step for Chongqing phase II to incorporate city-wide iris scanners for an even more personal and overt form of person recognition. After all,*if a city in Mexico*can try it, why not China?*
The city of Leon, one of the largest in Mexico, is working with biometrics firm Global Rainmakers to install iris scanning tech throughout the city's infrastructure. The goal is to make it the "most secure city in the world," and the system will connect to train, bus and ATM networks to make travel and cash access more secure. Criminals are automatically scanned, and the population has an opt-in incentive because it'll make many things easier and possibly safer--the ultimate goal is to stamp on fraud. There's a sop to the principles of an open society, with GR highlighting the benefits of adaptive digital advertising (Minority Report...honestly!) but when you have single unit scanner machines that can capture up to 50 irises per minute, what you're talking about here is a large integrated person positioning system.
That sounds like something that could easily be integrated into Chongqing's system--even if iris scanning only happens at sensitive locations. But that all depends on your definition of "sensitive."
Eavesdropping On Voices, For Individuals Or Banned Words
In a nation with a censorship and surveillance ethos running through its political structure, it's also highly plausible that the surveillance camera network could be hooked up to a cell phone call monitoring system that does voice recognition. That would require enormous computing power, to sample and check for the characteristic qualities of millions of user's voices, but it's not computationally impossible--particularly if you have enough supercomputers handy. Simpler would be a system that monitors for keywords or phrases--something China has been rumored to already have in place (and it marries with fantastical rumors about similar U.S. tech). Crowd-sourced voice patterns are now a well known trick, and are key to systems like Nuance's newest voice-recognizing iPhone apps.*
Tied to the camera system it could easily be used to build a case against a citizen for breaking laws about political dissent, since pictures tell a thousand words.
Recognizing Dissidents At A Glance
Failing all of these high-tech and fairly subtle systems, it wouldn't be too far a step for Chongqing phase II to incorporate city-wide iris scanners for an even more personal and overt form of person recognition. After all,*if a city in Mexico*can try it, why not China?*
The city of Leon, one of the largest in Mexico, is working with biometrics firm Global Rainmakers to install iris scanning tech throughout the city's infrastructure. The goal is to make it the "most secure city in the world," and the system will connect to train, bus and ATM networks to make travel and cash access more secure. Criminals are automatically scanned, and the population has an opt-in incentive because it'll make many things easier and possibly safer--the ultimate goal is to stamp on fraud. There's a sop to the principles of an open society, with GR highlighting the benefits of adaptive digital advertising (Minority Report...honestly!) but when you have single unit scanner machines that can capture up to 50 irises per minute, what you're talking about here is a large integrated person positioning system.
That sounds like something that could easily be integrated into Chongqing's system--even if iris scanning only happens at sensitive locations. But that all depends on your definition of "sensitive."