Database Leak Gives Us a Window into China’s Digital Surveillance State

eff.org

39 pointsDiabloD35 comments

It appears that in China, the state tracks your every move, whereas in the West private enterprise tracks your every move (Google, Facebook, et al).

Is this because in the US the constitution kinda prevents the state from doing the same? But if they do it via a private proxy they can still do the same?

They are both bad, but the situation in the West are a lot less bad because one cannot easily opt out of a government and the government doesn’t have competitors that constantly tries to undermine tracking by offering various privcy tools as companies like Apple, Mozilla and Duckduckgo do.

>> undermine tracking

So if a US startup tracks my movement by analyzing CCTV records from the cameras on the street, is there a startup that would opt me out of that?

Is this actually a state database, or some private 'AI' company trying to demonstrate its usefulness?

2.4 million data points per 24 hrs isn't that many really - that could be all the faces recognised by just one network of CCTV cameras, and is exactly what a data-hungry startup would try to do.

It would be legal in the US too, since recording who walks along a public street isn't a crime.

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