Hong Kong city police have launched a campaign under which officers will install thousands of cameras across the city to enhance their surveillance capabilities.
Despite consistently ranking among the world’s safest major cities, Hong Kong police have blamed crime on the deep penetration of CCTV in the city, which critics say has added to the powerful face of crime, CNN reports. Likely to be equipped with detection and artificial intelligence tools.
Hong Kong police previously set a goal of installing 2,000 new surveillance cameras this year, and that number has ultimately been increasing over the past few years.
CNN notes that police in Hong Kong aim to eventually introduce facial recognition into these cameras, security chief Chris Tang told local media in July — adding that police could also use AI to track suspects in the future. Can.
In a statement to CNN, the Hong Kong police force said it is studying how police in other countries use surveillance cameras, including how they use AI. But it’s unclear how many of the new cameras might have facial recognition capabilities, or whether there’s a timeline for when this technology will be introduced.
Hong Kong erupted in disruptive protests in 2019 to complain that the Chinese mainland government was interfering in the city’s freedoms and taking heavy-handed measures under the guise of national security. The new laws introduced have been used to jail activists, journalists and political opponents, and target civil society groups and vocal media outlets.
Fears of mainland-style surveillance and policing sparked notable outrage during the 2019 protests, which broadened to include many Hong Kongers’ fears that the central Chinese government would encroach on the city’s limited autonomy.
Justifying efforts to increase surveillance in Hong Kong, local newspapers said that crime in Hong Kong has seen a 3 percent increase. In their statement, police told CNN that the new cameras will only monitor public spaces and will delete footage after 31 days. They will follow existing personal data privacy laws as well as “comprehensive and robust internal guidelines,” police said, without elaborating on those guidelines.
The Chinese government is known for its surveillance actions which are often used to hinder critics of the Chinese Communist Party.
Despite regular assurances by the CCP that the technology would not be misused, it has been repeatedly seen used in more repressive ways, with offensive technologies routinely used in Xinjiang, China’s Muslim-majority Uyghur populated region. Survey is being conducted.
