It's happened again - China's unconstrained approach to automating dystopia has been exposed by the lack of basic data security. TechCrunch reported on Friday that a security researcher had "found a smart city database accessible from a web browser without a password, [the details of which he passed] to TechCrunch in an effort to get the data secured." The data, which included "facial recognition scans on hundreds of people over several months," was hosted by Alibaba, a major player in China's tech sector and a backer of several of the AI unicorns behind the most sophisticated surveillance state capabilities.
...On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) exposed details of a smartphone app that is used by the police in Xinjiang that packaged multiple data sources on monitored citizens. The system "tracked the movement of people by monitoring the 'trajectory' and location data of their phones, ID cards, and vehicles; it also monitoring the use of electricity and gas stations of everybody in the region. This is consistent with Xinjiang local government statements that emphasize officials must collect data for the IJOP system in a 'comprehensive manner' from 'everyone in every household'."
Two days later, and the system in this latest exposed data breach "monitors the residents around at least two small housing communities in eastern Beijing, the largest of which is Liangmaqiao, known as the city’s embassy district. The system is made up of several data collection points, including cameras designed to collect facial recognition data. The exposed data contains enough information to pinpoint where people went, when and for how long, allowing anyone with access to the data — including police — to build up a picture of a person’s day-to-day life."
China Is Using Facial Recognition To Track Ethnic Minorities, Even In Beijing