Leaked Data Shows China Was Tracking Non-Chinese Citizens

NTD News reported: 

Over 5,000 foreigners were tracked during visits to mainland China between 2017 to 2018, according to the latest data leak from a Chinese institution. Some individuals on the list say they were only in China for a day or were transiting through Shanghai.

One cybersecurity expert says the latest data leak is unique in its increased sophistication, including the use of facial recognition and the collection of passport IDs.

The information was compiled by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, a local level branch of Beijing’s main surveillance body, the Ministry of Public Security.

The data leak contains over 1.1 million surveillance records and includes information on 25,000 “persons of interest” in China, and 5,000 foreigners, including government officials and employees of Mitsubishi and U.S. manufacturing giant 3M.

Reuters had more: 

China enlisted surveillance firms to help draw up standards for mass facial recognition systems, researchers said on Tuesday, warning that an unusually heavy emphasis on tracking characteristics such as ethnicity created wide scope for abuse.

The technical standards, published by surveillance research group IPVM, specify how data captured by facial recognition cameras across China should be segmented by dozens of characteristics - from eyebrow size to skin color and ethnicity.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever seen public security camera networks that are tracking people by these sensitive categories explicitly at this scale,” said the report’s author, Charles Rollet.

The standards are driving the way surveillance networks are being built across the country - from residential developments in the capital, Beijing, to police systems in the central province of Hubei, he said.