In the Chinese city of Suzhou (Anhui Province), street cameras were used to identify people wearing the "wrong" clothes. Using facial recognition software, officials identified the perpetrators and publicly shamed them by posting photos and personal details online. The department of city government believed that in this way it would be possible to eradicate the "uncivilized" habits of the inhabitants of the city. Cloud4Y tells how it all happened.
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Officials in a large (about 6 million inhabitants) city in eastern China received an order to eradicate the "uncivilized behavior" of the population. And they couldn't think of anything better than using the facial recognition software used in ubiquitous video cameras. After all, with their help it is so convenient to identify cases of βuncivilizedβ behavior.
There was even a special explanatory post on WeChat (later removed) that read: βUncivilized behavior means that people behave and act in a way that disturbs the social order due to their lack of generally accepted morality. Many people think that this is nonsense, and not a serious problem. ... Others believe that public places are really "public", and there should not be oversight and public pressure. It led to a kind of smug, undisciplined mindsetΒ».
But what did the authorities of the city decide to eradicate, what they considered shameful, uncivilized and deeply vicious? You won't believe it - pajamas! More specifically, wearing pajamas in public.
The essence of the problem
Bright pajamas are a familiar streetwear for many women.
It must be said that wearing pajamas in public is common in China, especially among older women who prefer bright colors, as well as floral or cartoon patterns. It is also a popular form of dressing during the winter in southern China, where, unlike in northern cities, most houses do not have central heating. And you can't go to bed without pajamas. And it's warm, soft and comfortable. You just don't want to leave! They wear pajamas all day long. Both in the house and on the street. In general, the origin of the tradition of wearing pajamas on the street has a bunch of versions and is widely discussed on the net, but everyone agrees on one thing: pajamas are extremely comfortable.
Shanghai, for example, has long been considered the capital of pajama fashion. In 2009, the authorities tried to ban the practice by placing outdoor advertisements throughout the city with loud slogans like "Pajamas don't leave the house" or "Be a civilized citizen." Moreover, even a special "pajama police" was created, patrolling different parts of the city. But since the initiative was tied to a major economic event, after its completion, the activity of the fight against the pyjamonos decreased sharply. And the tradition has been preserved.
Suzhou went further. They tracked the violators for some time, and then published photos of seven residents of the city walking in public places in pajamas. In addition to photographs taken from surveillance cameras, names, numbers of state ID-cards, as well as addresses of those places where "uncivilized behavior" was noticed were published.
It didn't take much time for everything. Infobases were stored in , and the analysis of existing and incoming data was performed literally on the fly. This made it possible to quickly identify malicious offenders.
Using social media, the Suzhou Department publicly shamed a young woman named Dong, who was seen wearing a chic pink robe, trousers and pointy orange flats. Similarly, a man named Niu, who was seen walking in a black-and-white plaid pajama suit, was criticized in the mall.
Such activity of officials caused a wave of discontent on the Internet. As one commentator so aptly remarked, "Things like this happen when very high technology gets into the hands of very low-level bureaucrats, and by low I mean low-level intelligence."
Note that public shaming is a common practice in China. In movie theaters, laser pointers are used to shame viewers who play on their phones during the show. And in Shanghai, facial recognition systems have been installed at some pedestrian crossings to detect escaped prisoners.
There were other examples of government attempts to get rid of "uncivilized" habits. Thus, the authorities introduced fines for spitting in public places, and most recently introduced a ban on "β, - a practice when men turn up their shirts in the summer, exposing their stomachs.
Full video control of the society
The legality of the use of facial recognition software by law enforcement remains a hot topic of debate around the world. In Russia even against automatic face recognition. In some places, video surveillance is completely banned. Not so in China.
Over the past few years, the use of facial recognition software has become commonplace. The police used it to create a powerful mechanism for monitoring and identifying members of racial minorities, to catch toilet paper thieves, to control ΠΈ . With this system, the Chinese can board a plane or order their own food.
About toilet paper thievesChinese officials have been working for years to curb the overuse of toilet paper in public places. The devastating poverty of some segments of the population led to the fact that they were forced to use all ways to save money. Even on toilet paper.
The toilet paper thieves from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing were an elusive group. They looked like most park goers, practicing tai chi, dancing in the courtyards, and stopping to enjoy the wondrous scent of the ancient cypresses and juniper trees. But in their huge bags and backpacks were not gadgets or mats for relaxing on the grass. There were sheets of crumpled toilet paper, secretly torn from public toilets.
Due to the activities of these people, the toilet paper provided free of charge in the toilets quickly ran out. Tourists had to use their own or look for other toilets. Installing toilet paper dispensers partly solved this problem. But it created a number of inconveniences.
To receive toilet paper, the visitor must stand in front of the dispenser with the face scanning system installed for 3 seconds. After that, the machine will dispense a sheet of toilet paper, two feet long. If visitors demand more, they are out of luck. The machine will not dispense a second roll to the same person for nine minutes.
The scale and real need for facial recognition technology in China, where enthusiasm for new digital tools often outstrips existing capabilities, is not always clear or transparent. However, many Chinese people have accepted this technology and do not oppose it.
However, revealing the names and publicly blaming those who wear pajamas in Suzhou is already beyond the bounds of acceptable, many Chinese citizens say. Some WeChat users commented on the department's post that they disagreed with officials' decision to release personal information online. Others just wanted to know what was wrong with wearing pajamas in public. After all, βwhen celebrities wear pajamas to events, they are called fashionable. But when ordinary people wear pajamas to walk the streets, they are called uncivilized, βthe Internet activists noted.
Results
It wasn't until the scandal took on a national dimension that city government officials quickly removed the original post and issued a formal apology. They explained their action by the fact that Suzhou fought for the title of "China's most civilized city" in a competition held at the state level. And all the activities of officials were aimed precisely at winning this competition.
It is worth noting that an increasing number of citizens are expressing concern about the confidentiality of personal data and the inviolability of their personal lives. And they even try to challenge the growing powers of government agencies to track people. This is understandable. Few people will like the fact that their data, for a far-fetched reason, can be easily leaked to the Internet by some petty official. And you can also create a base of "dissidents", which will most likely end up on the black market almost immediately.
In general, the story turned out to be funny, but the situation is terrible (c). It turns out that it is quite possible to live to see the day when wearing the wrong clothes, participating in the wrong event, or simply talking to the wrong person can lead to public condemnation by the state and βconsciousβ law-abiding citizens.
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Source: habr.com