Today, East Turkistan has both a massive security presence and ubiquitous surveillance technology: facial-recognition cameras; iris and body scanners at checkpoints, gas stations and government facilities; the collection of DNA samples for a massive database; mandatory apps that monitor messages and data flow on Uyghurs’ smartphones; drones to monitor the borders. While there’s some debate over how advanced the system tying these technologies together is, it’s clear that China’s plan is for a fully integrated system that uses artificial intelligence to rapidly process massive amounts of information for use by the similarly massive numbers of police in convenience stations.
“[Xinjiang (East Turkistan)] represents a very new frontier and approach when it comes to online surveillance and oppression.”
For Uyghurs, it means that wherever they go, whomever they talk to and even whatever they read online are all being monitored by the Chinese government. According to The New York Times, “When Uighurs buy a kitchen knife, their ID data is etched on the blade as a QR code.” BuzzFeed documented stories of family members too scared to speak openly to relatives abroad. And the combination of all of these tools through increasingly powerful AI and data processing means absolute control and little freedom. Excerpt of article posted by Nithin Coca – freelance journalist 22nd February 2018.
Although Uyghurs residing in their homeland have absolutely no freedoms to speak of, expat Uyghur activists thankfully do! Raising their voice and shedding light on the plight of Uyghurs in East Turkistan!
A selection of which are linked here.
