With personal information, photographs and data on payments and consumption, the system can track all the steps and contacts of those observed.
When a cybersecurity researcher known by the pseudonym NetAskari recently clicked on a tab titled “Query Journalist Files” on an insecure Chinese website, he expected see a mix of fictitious data automatically generated.
Instead, familiar faces appeared on the screen. It was a comprehensive database of almost all foreign journalists based in the Chinese capital, Beijing, circa 2021, including official passport photos, private cell phone numbers, visa details and dates of birth. He also found his own personal information on that Chinese police watch list.
“He was more interesting than shocking“, NetAskari told DW. “When you work as a journalist in China, you basically assume that you are always on their radar. But what surprised me was simply the ease with which I was able to access this highly sensitive system.”
Granular system of social control in China
What NetAskari discovered is part of a system of “holographic profiles” of modern China. I had unknowingly accessed a demo version of a remote tracking system designed for the Public Security Bureau of Zhangjiakou, a city in Hebei province that hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Although it was just a test, it was full of real data sets, clearly outlining the trajectory of China’s state surveillance machinewhich is rapidly evolving from a network of simple street cameras into a gigantic data-integrated social control system operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For years, China operated the world’s most extensive closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera network. A massive initiative known as projeto Xueliang (bright eyes, in Portuguese) seeks to unify these isolated islands of surveillance spread across the country.
Data on the Zhangjiakou police dashboard shows the level of detail with which authorities can track an individual. This system no longer depends exclusively on police cameras on street corners and accurately records the train carriage and seat number specific areas that a target occupies when arriving from Beijing or Shanghai.
It even syncs photos taken by facial recognition turnstiles at local ski resorts directly into your tracking engine. The movements of the investigator’s acquaintances who recently skied in Zhangjiakou were precisely marked and mapped with detailed trajectories in the system.
“The idea is simply process as much data as possible from as many sensors as possible in real time”, observed the researcher.
The system records daily behaviors such as gasoline consumption, regular shopping locations and whether an individual frequently visits “petition areas.” This massive data fusion effort attempts to bring together a person’s physical whereabouts, spending habits, and digital footprints into one “holistic personal archive” impeccable.
Tracking foreign journalists
Within this increasingly hermetic network, foreigners – especially journalists and citizens of Western countries – have been increasingly observed by authorities.
Statistics from the system’s “smart report” show that Chinese security agencies disproportionately focus on citizens of Western countries. group known as Five Eyeswhich includes the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Behind the scenes in the system, certain foreign journalists receive a special real-time tracking tag called “traceable.” The moment they enter a jurisdiction, the system can Automatically trigger early alerts to police. For independent journalism in China, this represents an existential threat.
In the past, foreign reporters traveling to sensitive regions like Xinjiang often relied on experience to outwit undercover police who followed them in the rearview mirror. Now, algorithmic updates to the police system have made this traditional game of cat and mouse obsolete. “They no longer need to send two or three cars to follow you”, highlights NetAskari.
