Thread by @feliciasonmez

According to the man, one device captures your license plate number; another records how many people are in your car and has facial recognition tech; another can track your cell phone number, including whether one person is carrying multiple phones.

https://twitter.com/ChuBailiang/status/1290442483504222209

U.S. law enforcement has surveillance capabilities too, of course. But the far-reaching nature of state surveillance in China opens the door to a host of potential abuses. Even the thought of an officer using, or misusing, the available data can spur one to alter one’s behavior.

A brief personal example: A few years ago, I took a solo trip through western Sichuan province, mostly riding buses until I reached a town where the only way to keep going west (into eastern Qinghai) was to hire a driver.

At a checkpoint along the way, the driver and I got out of the car and a police officer inspected our documents. He asked me for my cell phone number, which I gave him, because the power dynamic makes that the kind of situation where you can’t easily say “no.”

A few minutes later, as the driver and I are back in the car heading toward our destination, my phone rings. It’s the officer, asking about my plans and proposing to show me around town as my “friend.” He asks whether a local passenger in the front seat is my boyfriend.

(He isn’t, and the officer says several more things that cross the line.) Finally, I yell at him to stop asking me such inappropriate questions and to leave me alone. I hang up the phone and, despite my best efforts, I’m shaking.

I was at the end of a year spent studying Chinese, so I was a student, not a journalist, at the time. I was purely traveling for my own enjoyment, not covering a sensitive story. And I did see some stunningly beautiful places and meet some amazing people over those two weeks.

But after I hung up on the shady officer, my first thought was about the data available to him. Anyone who’s worked as a reporter in China quickly becomes familiar with the ways the state can track your phone. Even if you’ve never (knowingly) experienced it, you’re always aware.

So, I begin to weigh the benefits of exploring that long-dreamed-of, scenic destination versus the risks of having a cop with bad intentions track me down at the hotel where I planned to stay. It broke my heart, but soon after I arrived, I found a cab and headed to the airport.

This is a story that plays out in every part of the planet, every day: a woman encounters a man and must quickly calculate whether he is a risk to her, and if so, how to react. It’s nothing unique to China. But the data available to those with power in China compounds the fear.

(The fear and, I should add, the danger.)