Title: China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone - The Atlantic
Headings: China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone
Global
China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone

Content: China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone - The Atlantic
Global
China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone
The country is perfecting a vast network of digital espionage as a means of social control—with implications for democracies worldwide. Anna Mitchell and Larry Diamond
February 2, 2018
A security camera is attached to a pole in front of the portrait of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, on May 19, 2017.Thomas Peter / Reuters
Imagine a society in which you are rated by the government on your trustworthiness. Your “citizen score” follows you wherever you go. A high score allows you access to faster internet service or a fast-tracked visa to Europe. If you make political posts online without a permit, or question or contradict the government’s official narrative on current events, however, your score decreases. To calculate the score, private companies working with your government constantly trawl through vast amounts of your social media and online shopping data. When you step outside your door, your actions in the physical world are also swept into the dragnet: The government gathers an enormous collection of information through the video cameras placed on your street and all over your city. If you commit a crime—or simply jaywalk—facial recognition algorithms will match video footage of your face to your photo in a national ID database. It won’t be long before the police show up at your door.