The Sharp Eyes system knows exactly where you were, what you did and talked to.
An ordinary blue panel with graphs and tables turned out to be a window into the device of Chinese police surveillance. Inside the system, created for the Public Security Bureau in the city of Zhangjiakou, there were data from foreigners, including journalists who worked in Beijing.
The NetAskari team gained access to a web interface similar to a demonstration project. The system was not connected to the data in real time, but stored information about real people. The records included passport data, photographs, dates of birth, phone numbers and other personal information of foreign correspondents registered in Beijing around 2021.
Judging by the interface, the operator could track the movements of foreigners living or temporarily staying in Zhangjiakou. The cards included addresses of residence, visa data, place of work, data on travel by train and plane, hotel, hospitals and markings from facial recognition cameras. For some people, the function of building a route was available.
The system also showed a level of risk, although the principle of calculation was not disclosed. In the found version, everyone had the same indicator, which is similar to a plug for test mode. At the same time, the set of sources looked wider than the usual migration base. The authors of the report found signs of data processing from cameras, transport systems, hotel registrations and even services related to ski passes.
A particular interest was the opportunity to build connections between people. The interface allowed us to analyze who crossed with whom, where the meetings took place and what groups are formed around the chosen goal. NetAskari compared this logic to Chinese developments in the field of “smart police”, where data about a person is collected in a detailed profile.
Zhangjiakou was not chosen by chance. The city hosted part of the 2022 Winter Olympics competition and remains a popular holiday destination for foreigners from Beijing. The system had separate indicators for citizens of the “Five Eyes” countries, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The authors of the report believe that the found interface may be associated with the Xuelian project, also known as Sharp Eyes. The Chinese authorities have been developing such infrastructure for many years, gradually combining cameras, transport data, hotel records and other sources. The panel shows how surveillance turns disparate information about a person into a permanent digital profile.
An ordinary blue panel with graphs and tables turned out to be a window into the device of Chinese police surveillance. Inside the system, created for the Public Security Bureau in the city of Zhangjiakou, there were data from foreigners, including journalists who worked in Beijing.
The NetAskari team gained access to a web interface similar to a demonstration project. The system was not connected to the data in real time, but stored information about real people. The records included passport data, photographs, dates of birth, phone numbers and other personal information of foreign correspondents registered in Beijing around 2021.
Judging by the interface, the operator could track the movements of foreigners living or temporarily staying in Zhangjiakou. The cards included addresses of residence, visa data, place of work, data on travel by train and plane, hotel, hospitals and markings from facial recognition cameras. For some people, the function of building a route was available.
The system also showed a level of risk, although the principle of calculation was not disclosed. In the found version, everyone had the same indicator, which is similar to a plug for test mode. At the same time, the set of sources looked wider than the usual migration base. The authors of the report found signs of data processing from cameras, transport systems, hotel registrations and even services related to ski passes.
A particular interest was the opportunity to build connections between people. The interface allowed us to analyze who crossed with whom, where the meetings took place and what groups are formed around the chosen goal. NetAskari compared this logic to Chinese developments in the field of “smart police”, where data about a person is collected in a detailed profile.
Zhangjiakou was not chosen by chance. The city hosted part of the 2022 Winter Olympics competition and remains a popular holiday destination for foreigners from Beijing. The system had separate indicators for citizens of the “Five Eyes” countries, which includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The authors of the report believe that the found interface may be associated with the Xuelian project, also known as Sharp Eyes. The Chinese authorities have been developing such infrastructure for many years, gradually combining cameras, transport data, hotel records and other sources. The panel shows how surveillance turns disparate information about a person into a permanent digital profile.
