China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12security.html
(Now, THIS is invasive.)
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: August 12, 2007
SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 9
Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.
Data on the chip will include not just the citizens name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlords phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of Chinas controversial one child policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.
and
If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future, said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology.
Incorporated in Florida, China Public Security has raised much of the money to develop its technology from two investment funds in Plano, Tex., Pinnacle Fund and Pinnacle China Fund. Three investment banks Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, Calif.; Oppenheimer & Company in New York; and First Asia Finance Group of Hong Kong helped raise the money.
and
Western security experts have suspected for several years that Chinese security agencies could track individuals based on the location of their cellphones, and the Shenzhen police tracking system confirms this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12security.html
(Now, THIS is invasive.)
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: August 12, 2007
SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 9
Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.
Data on the chip will include not just the citizens name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlords phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of Chinas controversial one child policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.
and
If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future, said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology.
Incorporated in Florida, China Public Security has raised much of the money to develop its technology from two investment funds in Plano, Tex., Pinnacle Fund and Pinnacle China Fund. Three investment banks Roth Capital Partners in Newport Beach, Calif.; Oppenheimer & Company in New York; and First Asia Finance Group of Hong Kong helped raise the money.
and
Western security experts have suspected for several years that Chinese security agencies could track individuals based on the location of their cellphones, and the Shenzhen police tracking system confirms this.
