Mass surveillance in China

Hello everyone! This is my sandbox for Mass surveillance in China article. There are some newly added sections as well as some original sections. For those new sections (Internet surveillance, Other new digital technologies, Mainland, Hong Kong), all information is newly added through research. For original sections (Spending estimates, Current affairs, Timeline), I copied the current content on topic page and bold the information I added or any changes I made. Thank you!

The Chinese government has been strengthening its tight control over the Internet and digital communication. There are more than 750 million Internet users in China, and what they can do or cannot do online is strictly regulated. ^[1] In 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a new regulation which imposed restrictions on the production and distribution of online news. ^[2] The regulation required all platforms, such as online blogs, forums, websites, social media apps to be managed by party-sanctioned editorial staff. ^[2] These editorial staff must obtain approval from the national or local government Internet and information offices and get training from the central government. ^[2]

Launched in 2011, WeChat, China's most popular messaging app, has been under surveillance by " Internet police". Any message sent through a WeChat group is monitored by the app's operator Tencent which is a Chinese technology giant, and those conversations will be kept for six months. ^[3] Tencent is using big data technology to watch WeChat users. Even conversations deleted by WeChat users can be retrieved back by Tencent, especially when the authority wants to find evidence of a suspect due to illegal activities. ^[4]

In 2017, the Chinese government has required all Sina Weibo (microblogging) account users to register with their real names and identity numbers by September 15th. ^[5] Weibo users who refused to register their accounts with real names are not able to post, repost and comment on Weibo. ^[5]

At the beginning of 2018, Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said that WeChat's MAU (monthly active users) across the globe reached a billion for the first time. ^[6] Since Tencent has good cooperation with the central government to implement self-censorship and mass surveillance, it enjoys the dominance in China. Other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, messenger, Line, etc, are mostly blocked or even forced out of the Chinese market.

Chinese Internet users have several ways to circumvent censorship. Netizens generally rely on VPN, i.e.“Virtual Private Networks”, to get access to those blocked websites and messaging apps. However, in July 2017, the Chinese government required telecommunications carriers, including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom to block individual access to VPNs by February 1st. ^[7] In August 2017, more than 60 VPNs, such as Astrill and Express VPN, were removed from China App Store. ^[8]VPNs that are allowed to use in China must be approved by state regulators and use the state network infrastructure. ^[9] For those sensitive words which can be censored online, Chinese netizens use puns and other forms of homophonic Chinese language to communicate. ^[10]

China has topnotch facial recognition technology in the world. Nowadays in China, facial recognition technology is integrated with other high technologies, such as big data and artificial intelligence so as to build a national surveillance and data-sharing platform. ^[11] Facial recognition technology has been used in many different fields. In the domain of social security, facial recognition technology has been installed in banks, airports and shopping malls to monitor crowds. In 2018, “Electronic Police at Zebra Crossing” or also known as “the Smart System for Collecting Evidence of Jaywalking” has been put into use in Shenzhen ^[12]. The smart system is equipped with facial recognition technology to record jaywalkers and non-motor vehicles which break traffic rules. ^[13] When shopping in the self-service markets of Alibaba and Jingdong which are top two Chinese e-commerce companies, customers can use e-payments through "the facial recognition system" linking with their bank cards. ^[13] Moreover, Baidu, a Chinese multinational technology company, cooperated with China Southern Airlines to install the facial recognition technology in Jiangying airport, Nanyang Henan province for boarding. ^[14]

"Robot police" has been installed in some public places such as train stations, museums, tourist attractions, etc. However, the market of "robot police" is still in its early stage, and one big challenge the government needs to deal with is its high price. ^[15] If the price of a "robot police" can be lowered down to 100,000 RMB, the market will more easily accept it. ^[15]

Furthermore, the Chinese government also uses big data technology to analyze and monitor people's online behavior, such as Zhima (Sesame) Credit which ranks its users based on their online activities. ^[16]

In Mainland China, one of the most important ongoing projects is "Skynet" project with an installation of more than 200 million video surveillance cameras. ^[17] The real-time pedestrian tracking and recognition system can precisely identify people's clothing, gender and even age, as well as motor vehicles and non-motor vehicles. ^[18] Besides, the surveillance system can instantly match a person's image with his/her personal identification and information. ^[18] Besides, “Golden Shield” is also a giant mechanism of censorship and surveillance that blocks tens of thousands of websites which may pose negative reports upon the Communist Party’s narrative and control. ^[19]

Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, or known as the pro-democracy campaign, aims to demand full democracy so that Hong Kong people can have the right to nominate and elect the head of the Hong Kong government. ^[20] However, pro-democracy key figures, such as some lawmakers, academics and political activists are under the central government's surveillance. Some activists engaged in the umbrella movement are intimidated or arrested by policemen. ^[21]News reports, social media posts and images about Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests are censored in mainland China. ^[22]

Internet users and civil society groups in Hong Kong have been facing cyberattacks and debated threats to privacy online during the past few years. ^[23] In June 2014, a white paper on the "one country, two systems" agreement issued by Beijing articulated that the central government has "comprehensive jurisdiction" over Hong Kong and the power to run local affairs is authorized by the central government. ^{[24] [25]}

In 2010, domestic security expenditure exceeded spending on external defense for the first time. By 2016, domestic security spending surpassed external defense by 13 percent. ^[26]

In 2017, China's spending on domestic security was estimated to be $197 billion, excluding spending on "security-related urban management and surveillance technology initiatives." ^[26] In the same year, the central government's total public security spending in Xinjiang has reached 57.95 billion RMB ($9.16 billion), which is ten times compared with the previous decade. ^[27]

In 2018, China will spend US$20 billion purchasing CCTV cameras and other surveillance equipments. ^[28]This large amount of purchase may reach half the size of the global market's. ^[28]

In January 2014, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Televisionannounced that real names would be required of users who wished to upload videos to Chinese web sites. The agency explained that the requirement was meant to "prevent vulgar content, base art forms, exaggerated violence and sexual content in Internet video having a negative effect on society." ^[29] In 2018, Chinese authority acknowledged for the first time that they could get access to WeChat users' deleted messages without their permission. ^[30]The Chaohu city discipline inspection and supervision commission retrieved a suspect's entire conversations that had already deleted. ^[30]

As part of a broader surveillance push, the Chinese government encouraged the use of various mobile phone apps. Local regulators launched mobile apps for " national security" purposes and to allow citizens to report violations, "which is a way for residents to conduct social supervision," according to a commentary in the Global Times. ^{[31] [32]}Besides mobile phone apps, the Chinese central government also adopts facial recognition technology, robot police, big data collection targeting online social media platforms to monitor its citizens. ^[33]

In 2016, China introduced a cybersecurity law, requiring Internet companies to store all network logs for at least six months, and store all personal data and critical information within mainland China. ^[34]

In 2018, Chinese law-enforcement officials have been equipped with facial recognition glasses to apprehend criminals and drug smugglers. ^[35] This technology was adopted at 2017 Qingdao International Beer Festival. ^[35] With the assistance of it, policemen captured 25 criminals and 19 drug smugglers. ^[35]

By 2020, according to an official document released in 2015, the Chinese government aims to build a nationwide video surveillance network for ensuring public security which will be "omnipresent, fully networked, working all the time and fully controllable". ^[27] The Chinese government expects to integrate private and public cameras, leveraging the country's tech industry's expertise in facial recognition technology to build a nation-wide surveillance network. ^[36]

http://www.ndrc.gov.cn/zcfb/zcfbtz/201505/t20150513_691578.html