Is China on the Verge of “Digital Dictatorship”?

The People’s Republic of China is among many countries that have been investing in technology. According to many human rights activists, the Bangkok government’s obsession with surveillance will eventually put citizen’s liberty under threat. The Chinese government has installed CCTV cameras in numerous cities claiming to control the crime rates, yet many choose to believe otherwise.

It’s important to highlight that mass surveillance is nothing new to China, as when Mao was the spiritual leader of the country, every word that goes out of your mouth was documented by officials. The latest sophisticated technology (be it data storage, cloud computing, facial recognition, etc.) has surely surpassed manpower.

And only recently, China has also introduced the social credit system where every citizen’s social and economic reputation is recorded into that specific system. Supporters of the system believe that the system helps in the betterment of society as it establishes transparency and accountability among citizens. 

It’s still unclear what will happen next, but one thing we know for sure is that governments have started pumping millions of dollars into the field of technology.