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Jaywalkers Under Surveillance In China Will Soon Be Punished Via Text Messages (scmp.com) 139

An anonymous reader quotes a report from South China Morning Post: Traffic police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen have always had a reputation for strict enforcement of those flouting road rules in the metropolis of 12 million people. Now with the help of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology, jaywalkers will not only be publicly named and shamed, they will be notified of their wrongdoing via instant messaging -- along with the fine. Intellifusion, a Shenzhen-based AI firm that provides technology to the city's police to display the faces of jaywalkers on large LED screens at intersections, is now talking with local mobile phone carriers and social media platforms such as WeChat and Sina Weibo to develop a system where offenders will receive personal text messages as soon as they violate the rules, according to Wang Jun, the company's director of marketing solutions.

For the current system installed in Shenzhen, Intellifusion installed cameras with 7 million pixels of resolution to capture photos of pedestrians crossing the road against traffic lights. Facial recognition technology identifies the individual from a database and displays a photo of the jaywalking offense, the family name of the offender and part of their government identification number on large LED screens above the pavement. In the 10 months to February this year, as many as 13,930 jaywalking offenders were recorded and displayed on the LED screen at one busy intersection in Futian district, the Shenzhen traffic police announced last month. Taking it a step further, in March the traffic police launched a webpage which displays photos, names and partial ID numbers of jaywalkers. These measures have effectively reduced the number of repeat offenders, according to Wang. The next step -- informing the errant pedestrians by text or Weibo instant messaging -- could have the added benefit of eliminating the cost of erecting large LED screens across the cities, he said.

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Jaywalkers Under Surveillance In China Will Soon Be Punished Via Text Messages

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  • So What? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dohzer ( 867770 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:05AM (#56333211)

    So what?! It's not like the government has a ranking system that denies them the ability to travel out of the coun... oh... wait.

    • Re:So What? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Mr D from 63 ( 3395377 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:24AM (#56333319)
      Uber has the technology already developed to punish jaywalkers.
      • Uber has the technology already developed to punish jaywalkers.

        Damn, that's brutal! Funniest thing I've read today.

      • Uber has the technology already developed to punish jaywalkers.

        FALSE - The car would've reacted the same(ie. no reaction) if it was a group of 40 pre-schoolers crossing a well-lit and marked pedestrian crossing.

      • by Archfeld ( 6757 )

        Uber didn't develop it, they just copied it from every taxi driver in NY. It has long been know that jay-walking in NYC was a very dangerous occupation/pastime.

    • Some governments have a system that obliges its citizens to 'travel' out of the country.
    • Why is walking across the street even illegal? Why are cars given priority?

      From wikipedia: Originally, the legal rule was that "all persons have an equal right in the highway, and that in exercising the right each shall take due care not to injure other users of the way."[4] In time, however, streets became the province of motorized traffic ....

      It isn't illegal (jaywalking) in most places.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Because a small number of pedestrians crossing wherever they please has a large detrimental impact on congestion and safety of everyone on the road.
        Same reason we have traffic lights instead of juts 4 way yield signs and ignoring the light is illegal.

      • Pedestrians were safe with horses.

        Jaywalking was already illegal in 10 countries by 1917 however.

        Cars and pedestrians don't mix in uncontrolled circumstances. One of them is softer than the other.

      • Cars are given priority because they can move faster and cause more damage in collisions.
  • Once more (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:08AM (#56333229)

    This is building a world I don't particularly want to live in.

    • Re:Once more (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @10:53AM (#56333819)

      This is building a world I don't particularly want to live in.

      Indeed, it's not like this system couldn't be used to pick out who doesn't give a standing ovation at a communist party rally, or identify who doesn't smile and salute as the military parade goes by.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Well, it's a darn good thing we in the US of A have all those gosh-darn gun rights. It just makes sure IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE.

      Why if our government tried anything like that we'd all just pick up our AR-15s and march down to the Capitol and....

      Hey, where'd everybody go?

      • by tsqr ( 808554 )

        Why if our government tried anything like that we'd all just pick up our AR-15s and march down to the Capitol and....

        Hey, where'd everybody go?

        Everybody's down at the corner, shooting at the jaywalking cameras.

        • People don't even shoot at red light cameras with paintball guns.

          the armalad 15's combined with high capacity magazines killing power is too high for civilians but too low to resist military weaponry.

          We need to decide- give everyone live grenades, fuel air bombs, and nuclear arms or limit civilians to shotguns, handguns, small magazines, and track/limit the number of bullets they buy without returning casings.

          I'd tax bullets with a floating rate sufficient to cover the annualized cost of shooting victim's m

          • Gr... Curse slashdot and typos... ArmaLite.. not armalad.

            It isnt' really the AR15 that's the problem anyway. It's the killing capacity of weapons that exceed machineguns (which killed 7 people leading the NRA to help write a law restricting access to such terrific killing power after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.)

            Magazines exceeding 10 shots should be registered and licensed the same as machine guns. And after a reasonable period to register or swap for smaller capacity magazines, possession of such

            • Why? Rifles are such a small percentage of violent crime, and are used so often to hunt or for protection that it makes no sense to single them out. More to the point, if you train it's not hard to switch magazines quickly.
              • Why? Machine Guns are such a small percentage of violent crime?
                Why? Live grenades are such a small percentage of violent crime?
                Why? Rocket Powered Grenades are such a small percentage of violent crime?
                Why? Ammonium Nitrate Bombs are such a small percentage of violent crime?
                Why? Ricin is such a small percentage of violent crime?

                Switching a series of six 10 round magazines slows mass shooters down and gives other people with guns a chance to shoot them. Or other unarmed people a few seconds to run. And re

                • I don't think the comparison between things that are currently illegal and make up a small percentage of violent crime and things that are legal and make up a small percentage of violent crime makes sense if you're trying to justify making something new illegal.

                  I don't think large capacity magazines are necessary to hunt, but I also don't think banning them will really have an impact on gun violence or homicides. That being said, I appreciate you being fairly civil about this and taking a fairly moderate
    • > This is building a world I don't particularly want to live in.

      Be worry. Don't happy.

      At least being punished by text messages is not as bad as being punished by Justin Bieber music.
  • . . . Death, by Snu Snu!

    Tourism and jaywalking in China grow exponentially.

  • Wrong way around (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Errol backfiring ( 1280012 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:12AM (#56333245) Journal
    Shaming pedestrians for crossing safe roads (I assume they are not suicidal) while the president makes himself an all-powerful dictator makes a fine country indeed. I'd rather have a country where corruption is automatically shamed.
    • Shaming pedestrians for crossing safe roads (I assume they are not suicidal) while the president makes himself an all-powerful dictator makes a fine country indeed. I'd rather have a country where corruption is automatically shamed.

      By definition, future God-Emperor, "Gee KingPin" cannot be corrupt because he is the law.

    • Shaming pedestrians for crossing safe roads (I assume they are not suicidal) while the president makes himself an all-powerful dictator makes a fine country indeed. I'd rather have a country where corruption is automatically shamed.

      My experience in China is that, yes, this is the wrong way around, but not in the way you’re suggesting. Instead, they should be going after people who run red lights in vehicles. I’ve walked somewhere in the 100 mile range in the streets of China and have almost been hit by vehicles disobeying a red light on average at least once every 10 miles. And that is NOT including the times I’ve stopped to avoid people running a red light. Those are strictly the times where I didn’t rea

  • ... paragraph 213/b-N of civil of conduct in traffic. 4 points have been subtracted from your citizen performance measure. You are now -72 of average at a level of 968. Have a profitable day Sir and please comply with the law and the codes of conduct. - Big Ching is watching you.

    Levels and Punishment
    950 - 50 hours of social work
    900 - 100 hours of social work, public shaming and +30% on your rates for public transport
    750 - 500 hours of social work
    400 - permanent containment until debt of 300 points is recovered (20pt / Quarter)
    300 and below: Inmediate recycling of all your personal biomaterial at the nearest biorecycling facility

    • I wonder how many "rebels" will wear masks, sunglasses, wigs, overcoats, and walk with a limp as they jaywalk, just to "beat the man".
      • by MrKaos ( 858439 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:48AM (#56333465) Journal

        I wonder how many "rebels" will wear masks, sunglasses, wigs, overcoats, and walk with a limp as they jaywalk, just to "beat the man".

        It doesn't matter. I don't know if you have seen what they are using, it's an AI augmented camera array that picks up multiple markers of a persons identity, they are really pretty scary.

        One of the things it does is provide descriptions of offenders in real terms like "suspect is moving west, red shirt, black shorts, black hair, 5'3", white shoes". Worse they pick up mood, so it can tell if you are pissed off.

        It's about the most intrusive thing I've ever seen AND if you are paying attention politicians used some awful tragedy to implant the idea into peoples conscious that these sorts of camera arrays are a necessity and all the ones I saw on news reports talking of the need for it so they prepare the way for legislation to mandate these devices.

        I wouldn't be surprised if you see it soon.

        • by mysidia ( 191772 )

          it's an AI augmented camera array that picks up multiple markers of a persons identity, they are really pretty scary.

          Nothing a suitably equipped drone or bunch of radicals hiding under blue bedsheets with cans of spraypaint to target the lenses of the camera arrays couldn't take care of....

          • by gnick ( 1211984 )

            ...radicals hiding under blue bedsheets with cans of spraypaint...

            The Chinese have ways of dealing with radical activists.

            • by mysidia ( 191772 )

              The Chinese have ways of dealing with radical activists.

              What... like more LCD monitors showing the activists to embarrass them?

              Only works if they can (1) figure out who they are before, during, and after, and (2) catch them.

              • by gnick ( 1211984 )

                Yes. More LCD monitors. Because the Chinese treat radical activists the same way they treat jaywalkers. I'm not even going to bother digging up examples of how wrong this is.

                Only works if they can (1) figure out who they are before, during, and after, and (2) catch them.

                How many cameras do you think your hypothetical activist is going to compromise before police decide to stop the guy wearing a blue bed sheet carrying a can of spray paint?

              • What... like more LCD monitors showing the activists to embarrass them?

                You could find yourself working in a prison camp, perhaps sorting through used LCD monitors for recycling. If you behave yourself you might get to work at Foxconn and get two restroom breaks per day.

        • > Worse they pick up mood, so it can tell if you are pissed off.

          Wow, won't be long until they're logging your Crime Coefficient Index and pulling you off the street for pre-crime indicators. Maybe if your CCI gets high enough the cops will be authorized to terminate you on the spot...

          • It is one thing to be able to tell if a picture of someone is who they say they are. Or to identify people in a roomful.

            But to accurately identify people with no other information is almost beyond belief. There are lots of people that look almost the same, and women tend to look different every time the change their hair or make up.

            It would not be possible humans to do this, so I am suspicious that it is possible for computers.

            One thought is that tracking mobile phones lets them know who is nearby. Or th

      • I wonder how many "rebels" will wear masks, sunglasses, wigs, overcoats, and walk with a limp as they jaywalk, just to "beat the man".

        None? It's a communist dictatorship, not an American high school.

    • China's social credit system: [bbc.com]

      By 2020, everyone in China will be enrolled in a vast national database that compiles fiscal and government information, including minor traffic violations, and distils it into a single number ranking each citizen.

      Chinese are already loving Big Ching.

      It's amazing and terrifying to consider over a billion humans living under this dictatorship driven, Orwellian nightmare of total surveillance and control.

  • Nice Big Brother (Score:1, Insightful)

    by bestweasel ( 773758 )

    Nice Big Brother makes sure you cross the road safely.
    Nice Big Brother doesn't mind what else you do.
    Nice Big Brother won't object if you attend a protest.
    Nice Big Brother won't keep a record of who you talk to.
    Nice Big Brother has only your best interests at heart.
    All praise Nice Big Brother!

  • IN AZ jwalkers get auto killed by self driving cars

    • by TWX ( 665546 )

      Yes, but the self-driving car is not a function of the state or contracted to provide enforcement. If anything, since the accident the state has been harder on self-driving cars, not harder on jay-walking.

      • today it is like that but down the road the state can use that to get rid of people and make it look like an accident

    • Different countries employ different technologies to deal with people that can't follow rules...

  • What happens if everyone starts wearing surgical masks? Won't it just be a DB with a billion peoples' eyes?
  • Punishment may be used in justice, but justice isn't punishment.
    Justice doesn't mean breaking a law need to be punished. But it means the reason and circumstances for such actions should be evaluated. If such actions deemed to be harmful or needlessly dangerous then corrective action should be in place.

    All too often, I see people taking the laws and rules, and hammering peoples freedom with them, where the intent or practice of such a law isn't practical or may be outdated.

  • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:34AM (#56333371)

    This is just another part of government of Xi's psychological warfare on the people. They are sending the message that they are God and a lack of reverence will be punished. The point is to keep people thinking that the government has absolute control and thus any challenge to it would be futile.

  • Somehow, i think this applies: Arson, Murder, and http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw... [tvtropes.org]

    Share and Enjoy!
    IMarv

  • by puddingebola ( 2036796 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @09:37AM (#56333395) Journal
    Did you hear the one about the guy who got a photo from an automated speed camera? There was a picture of his car and a letter saying he was going 80 mph, and the fine was $200. He took a photo of $200 and mailed it back to them.
  • I guess 1984 was never translated in Mandarin/Cantonese/Hunanese?
  • One more big step on the road to total surveillance and control. George Orwell would not be surprised, except that it has taken this long. Even the British, with their myriad cameras recording every bit of life haven't yet linked the cameras directly to an enforcement mechanism.

  • by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @10:16AM (#56333615)

    Mattel Electronics sues China for the name "Intellifusion" which is too damn close to "Intellivision".

  • They already had this in place for those 'stealing' tp from public restroom so this comes as no surprise
  • by unixcorn ( 120825 ) on Tuesday March 27, 2018 @10:35AM (#56333725)

    You have been fined one credit for the violation of the verbal moralaity act......

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    Studies have shown that removing signals, signs, crosswalks, etc. leads to much safer roads.
    People are more cautious. Rather than roaring through an intersection, they slow down, make eye contact and negotiate their way through the space.
    Also, check out traffic in Hanoi, Viet Nam and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

  • How much longer are the people of China going to put up with this bullshit? Sounds to me like every year China becomes more and more a total shithole to live in, with the government now literally up their asses 24/7. How can human beings put up with this shit?
    • by Gordo_1 ( 256312 )

      I dunno. How willing would you be to die for the cause of freedom? That's what it takes and people there feel free enough in their daily lives that it doesn't seem worth the effort.

    • Longer than frogs [wikipedia.org] will, apparently.

  • Slap on a 10-gallon hat with YOUR AD HERE, and go walkin' jays.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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