[LINK] residency cards

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People 
By KEITH BRADSHER  Published: August 12, 2007

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/worldbusiness/12security.html?
th&emc=th>

SHENZHEN, China .. Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then 
spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards 
fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be 
issued to most citizens.

Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but 
also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police 
record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even 
personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s 
controversial “one child” policy. 

Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments 
and small purchases charged to the card.

Security experts describe China’s plans as the world’s largest effort to 
meld cutting-edge computer technology with police work to track the 
activities of a population and fight crime. But they say the technology 
can be used to violate civil rights.

The Chinese government has ordered all large cities to apply technology to 
police work and to issue high-tech residency cards to 150 million people 
who have moved to a city but not yet acquired permanent residency.

Both steps are officially aimed at fighting crime and developing better 
controls on an increasingly mobile population, including the nearly 10 
million peasants who move to big cities each year. But they could also 
help the Communist Party retain power by maintaining tight controls on an 
increasingly prosperous population at a time when street protests are 
becoming more common.

“If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot 
get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control 
the population in the future,” said Michael Lin, the vice president for 
investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company 
providing the technology. <snip>
--

Regards people
Stephen Loosley
Victoria Australia