In the Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Spider-Man: Far from Home, the hero receives a pair of glasses, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), giving him access to a wide range of information [1]. Although it seems like something out of the future, similar inventions are coming to contemporary society.
With a population of 1.3 billion, China’s plan to create a facial recognition system that can identify people within three seconds—with a 90% accuracy rate—may seem ambitious, but that has not deterred the nation [2]. Various Chinese cities are already using facial recognition to spot criminals among thousands of people in crowds and verify the identities of passengers at airports. These are a few of the ways China is spying on its citizens, reminiscent of Big Brother, a fictional character in George Orwell’s dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” [3]. The name has entered the lexicon as a symbol for abuse of government power, especially as it relates to civil liberties.
The Chinese have an old saying: “The emperor is as far away as the sky” [4]. The proverb has long been used to reassure an anxious populace that the government can not monitor everyone, allowing citizens to cling to the last vestiges of freedom and privacy they still enjoy. But the adage is rapidly becoming a misnomer, courtesy of AI.
It has long been known that the Chinese government uses video to keep an eye on its citizens. In 2016, privacy concerns arose when a Chinese city demanded that massage parlors and public baths install security cameras. In May, a middle school in east China installed cameras that analyze students’ facial expressions to determine their attentiveness [5].
China’s new facial recognition system will ostensibly be used for security and government purposes, such as public administration and tracking fugitives. But burgeoning surveillance in that country has triggered alarm over privacy issues.
Meitu, a popular application that allows people to put virtual makeup on selfies, rose to short-lived fame in the West. Its popularity cooled after media reports implied that users’ personal information was being sold, although the company vehemently denies it. A regulation passed in June of 2016, which required developers to verify users’ identities and save activity logs for 60 days, aroused suspicion among technology bloggers and security monitors [6].
Despite privacy concerns, Chinese AI surveillance continues to evolve unabated. Recently, top-performing Chinese students were recruited straight out of high school, some still wearing their graduation caps and gowns. Their mission: begin training to make the next generation of AI weapons [7]. China is playing the long game.
With the country as a major driver of AI surveillance, the technology is suddenly becoming ubiquitous worldwide. The U.S. and other countries are also involved in the development of this potentially repressive software, but China aims for supremacy. The nation’s surveillance devices not only monitor citizens but have the capacity to disrupt free elections, spy on political opponents, and spread false information. Surveillance is the midwife of government control.
However, the technology is not inherently unlawful. For example, it is being used in the U.S. to thwart terrorism and monitor the nation’s borders. But the American Civil Liberties Union and other watchdog groups are alarmed at its potential for abuse. Rightly so.
“Americans have come to terms with the inconvenient truth that there is no such thing as electronic communication without electronic eavesdropping,” said Brian Hochman, associate professor of English and American Studies at Georgetown University [9]. Those capabilities are inherently connected, posing a potential danger to civil rights.
Surveillance is part of the fabric of America. The earliest statute prohibiting wiretapping was enacted in 1862. Soon after Pacific Telegraph Co. reached the West Coast, D.C. Williams became the first person convicted under the new law when he eavesdropped on corporate telegraph lines and sold the information to investors [10].
Electronic surveillance in the past focused on individuals such as Williams. Now, “dataveillance” encompasses surveillance of all the electronic records of an individual regardless of suspicion. Hochman said one of the most disturbing aspects of this foreboding technology is that telecommunication companies are complicit in the rise of the Surveillance State. For example, smart speakers in homes are basically wiretaps, constantly listening [11]. That’s spooky.
The National Security Agency’s mass surveillance has increased markedly since 9/11. An unknown number of U.S. citizens — thought to be in the millions — are spied upon; their calls, messages, web-browsing, and emails are under scrutiny. The government finds legal refuge for its activities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Executive Order 12,333, and the USA Freedom Act, a restored and modified version of the Patriot Act [12].
“History has shown that powerful, secret surveillance tools will almost certainly be abused for political ends,” the ACLU warned [13]. The organization, which views public surveillance as a congenital threat to U.S. democracy, is at the forefront of efforts to rein in these surreptitious activities. This concern has produced a long trail of mixed court decisions.
The issue of surveillance is especially disconcerting in America’s airspace, which falls into the same legal category as other public venues. In most states, no warrant or permission is needed to spy on people from on high. The result: there are aircrafts flying over entire U.S. cities, large and small, monitoring citizen activities. This aerial intrusion represents a new frontier for law enforcement.
The FBI is thought to have more than 115 planes in its surveillance fleet, operating behind fictitious fronts. Technology aboard these planes allows the government to identify people on the ground through the cell phones they carry, even when not in use. Unmanned aerial vehicles, known as drones, are also coming into widespread use, even at night [14].
Most people would probably acknowledge that aerial surveillance can serve a useful purpose at times. These eyes in the sky, for example, might have been helpful during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. But the potential for abuse is disturbing.
Humans are natural explorers, but observations are subjective. Is an assemblage on the ground a peaceful protest or a riot? Are participants exercising their constitutional prerogative or are citizens running amok?
Even people who have never read the book have been influenced by it. “It is the book we turn to when truth is being mutilated, when language is distorted, when power is abused, when we want to know how bad things can get,” said Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s 1984 [15]. Even after so much time, the book remains, in the words of Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, “an apocalyptic codex of our worst fears.”
That’s quite a legacy, especially potent because it was written during one of the most tumultuous periods in human history — in the aftermath of Nazi Germany and the shadow of Stalinist Russia. And now, America is witnessing the eclipse of objective truth.
Orwell’s classic novel gives the world a glimpse of what life would be like without freedom of thought and expression. That scenario is not farfetched, even in America, where those liberties are carefully enshrined in the Constitution. They have been under assault for decades.
There is shame in that, but also a sense of urgency. The clock is striking 13.
[1] “A Pair of AI-Powered E.D.I.T.H Smart Glasses You Can Make Yourself.” Hackster.io, https://blog.hackster.io/a-pair-of-ai-powered-e-d-i-t-h-smart-glasses-ddf8b8e94e3d.
[2] “China Plans Giant Facial Recognition Database to ID Its 1.3bn People.” South China Morning Post, 24 Sept. 2018, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2115094/china-build-giant-facial-recognition-database-identify-any.
[3] “Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Nov. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)
[4] “Tian Gao, Huangdi Yuan.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_gao,_Huangdi_yuan.
[5] “From Drones to Social Credits, 10 Ways China Watches Its Citizens.” South China Morning Post, 19 Feb. 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2157883/drones-facial-recognition-and-social-credit-system-10-ways-china.
[6] Conger, Kate. “The Cost of Hot Selfie App Meitu? A Healthy Dose of Your Personal Info.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 20 Jan. 2017, https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/meitu-app-collects-personal-data/.
[7] “China's Brightest Children Recruited to Develop AI 'Killer Bots'.” South China Morning Post, 8 Nov. 2018, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2172141/chinas-brightest-children-are-being-recruited-develop-ai-killer.
[8] Allen, Gregory C. “Putin and Musk Are Right: Whoever Masters AI Will Run the World.” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Sept. 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/05/opinions/russia-weaponize-ai-opinion-allen/index.html.
[9] Hochman, Brian. “Eavesdropping in the Age of The Eavesdroppers; or, The Bug in the Martini Olive.” Post45, 3 Feb. 2016, http://post45.research.yale.edu/2016/02/eavesdropping-in-the-age-of-the-eavesdroppers-or-the-bug-in-the-martini-olive/.
[10] White, April. “A Brief History of Surveillance in America.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Apr. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-surveillance-america-180968399.
[11] John, Allen St. “Yes, Your Smart Speaker Is Listening When It Shouldn't.” Consumer Reports, www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/yes-your-smart-speaker-is-listening-when-it-should-not/.
[12] “USA Freedom Act.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Nov. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act.
[13] “What's Wrong With Public Video Surveillance?” American Civil Liberties Union, https://www.aclu.org/other/whats-wrong-public-video-surveillance.
[14] Gillum, Jack. “FBI behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft over US Cities.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 2 June 2015, https://apnews.com/4b3f220e33b64123a3909c60845da045/fbi-behind-mysterious-surveillance-aircraft-over-us-cities.
[15] Lynskey, Dorian. “Nothing but the Truth: the Legacy of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 May 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/19/legacy-george-orwell-nineteen-eighty-four.
[5] “From Drones to Social Credits, 10 Ways China Watches Its Citizens.” South China Morning Post, 19 Feb. 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2157883/drones-facial-recognition-and-social-credit-system-10-ways-china.
[6] Conger, Kate. “The Cost of Hot Selfie App Meitu? A Healthy Dose of Your Personal Info.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 20 Jan. 2017, https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/19/meitu-app-collects-personal-data/.
[7] “China's Brightest Children Recruited to Develop AI 'Killer Bots'.” South China Morning Post, 8 Nov. 2018, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2172141/chinas-brightest-children-are-being-recruited-develop-ai-killer.
[8] Allen, Gregory C. “Putin and Musk Are Right: Whoever Masters AI Will Run the World.” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Sept. 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/05/opinions/russia-weaponize-ai-opinion-allen/index.html.[9] Hochman, Brian. “Eavesdropping in the Age of The Eavesdroppers; or, The Bug in the Martini Olive.” Post45, 3 Feb. 2016, http://post45.research.yale.edu/2016/02/eavesdropping-in-the-age-of-the-eavesdroppers-or-the-bug-in-the-martini-olive/.[10] White, April. “A Brief History of Surveillance in America.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Apr. 2018, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-surveillance-america-180968399.[11] John, Allen St. “Yes, Your Smart Speaker Is Listening When It Shouldn't.” Consumer Reports, www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/yes-your-smart-speaker-is-listening-when-it-should-not/. [12] “USA Freedom Act.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Nov. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act.
[13] “What's Wrong With Public Video Surveillance?” American Civil Liberties Union, https://www.aclu.org/other/whats-wrong-public-video-surveillance.
[14] Gillum, Jack. “FBI behind Mysterious Surveillance Aircraft over US Cities.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 2 June 2015, https://apnews.com/4b3f220e33b64123a3909c60845da045/fbi-behind-mysterious-surveillance-aircraft-over-us-cities.
[15] Lynskey, Dorian. “Nothing but the Truth: the Legacy of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 May 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/19/legacy-george-orwell-nineteen-eighty-four.
