China using big data in Xinjiang crackdown, say rights groups

China is using predictive "big data" technology to police suspects in the restive western province of Xinjiang, according to a report by the Human Rights Watch group, gathering personal data on everything from banking to health to prayer habits.

The technology includes facial recognition software based on artificial intelligence and uses algorithms to aggregate data about people, including what books they own, often without their knowing, and passes the information on to security officials.

"For the first time, we are able to demonstrate that the Chinese government's use of big data and predictive policing not only blatantly violates privacy rights, but also enables officials to arbitrarily detain people," Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in the report.

“People in Xinjiang can’t resist or challenge the increasingly intrusive scrutiny of their daily lives because most don’t even know about this ‘black box’ programme or how it works,” Ms Wang said.

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Hundreds have died in Xinjiang in the past few years, mostly in unrest between the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur people, who call the region home, and the ethnic majority Han Chinese. Beijing blames the unrest on Islamist militants.

Detained in Kashgar

Late last year there were reports that about 120,000 ethnic Uighurs were being held in political re-education camps in Kashgar prefecture.

The crackdown is part of President Xi Jinping’s “Strike-Hard” campaign against violence, extremism and separatism in the region. Some locals have complained of restrictions on the practise of Islam.

Earlier this month, Chen Quanguo, the Communist Party chief in Xinjiang, called for tougher border control to safeguard security in the region.

He told the Xinhua news agency that “preserving Xinjiang’s social stability and sustainable peace” was the main goal of the party leadership there, and said the government was aimed at poverty reduction in the region.

Facial recognition

The data is collected as part of a policing system known as the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, which has been operating since August 2016. It gathers information using multiple sensors, including CCTV cameras with facial recognition or infrared capabilities, Human Rights Watch reported.

One interviewee told the watchdog he had seen data gathered including basic information about name, gender, ID numbers and familial relations, as well as whether the person is trusted or not, whether they have been detained or subject to political education, for every Uighur in a particular area.

Any movements overseas were also recorded, as were reasons for travelling abroad.

“Arbitrary mass surveillance and detention are Orwellian political tools,” said Ms Wang. “China should abandon use of them and release all those held in political education centres immediately.”