Risk and Challenge of Being “Intelligent”
“I see the future, and it scares me.” Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia, responded to the question about the exponentially increasing use of facial recognition and video surveillance by governments.
It’s been almost four years since AlphaGo beat the top professional chess player, Lee Sedol. That’s also the time when China started the great progress of using technology on public safety. From facial recognition and video surveillance in China to police body cameras in the US, it seems governments are willing to spend more resources on highly advanced public safety technology.
According to some of the recent news and interviews, some experts and politicians are questioning the use of premature technology because it might lead to social problems such as controlled freedom of expression, decrease in social trust, disclosure of personal information, or political bias influenced by heavy control of data. With the consideration of the media bias and political suppression in high-tech development, many of the concerns from the Chinese video surveillance systems would also implement to the scattered US private companies where personal information is collected and analyzed simply without a centralized top-down oversee.
With the advanced use of technology, the spirit of living in an intelligent city finally seems like a dream come true, along with sincere contributions in improving public safety and citizens’ daily routine. However, given a choice, with all other contextual conditions being similar, would you rather live in the city with all “eyes’ watching on you and at the same time protecting you; OR in a city with limited or no video surveillance system at all? Don’t be emotional, and just think for a minute, my guess is that the above statement seems a bit open-ended and you may want more information about what exactly does “same conditions” mean, right? Every city has a different physical and socio-spatial fabric. The city like Manila, Philippines is one where most of its citizens are eager to have a video surveillance system for safety concerns. And just like Xu Xhiheng, the co-founder of SenseTime states, “you shouldn’t worry about the system unless you did something bad to the society because illegal acts are easily recorded.”
However, just like one of the important features of facial recognition and video surveillance might relate to the future social credit system. “The state is trying to improve the morals and values of its citizens by obtaining citizen’s information;” said Zhuang Daohe, a lawyer. As he mentioned, the legal system might not have the capability/compatibility to incorporate this advanced technology right now.
