Officials in China are currently building the world’s largest network of surveillance cameras for what they claim will help deter crime throughout part of their country by monitoring the public actions of their citizens, a move that is upsetting human rights activists who claim the country’s government is simply trying to gain a tighter hold over their population.
The project, currently underway in Chongqinq will take the next several years to complete and when finished will spread across 400 square miles.
Not only is China involved in the project, but American software and hardware company Cisco is involved in the project, providing China with many of the networking aspects necessary to complete the project for a “Peaceful Chongqing.
It will be interesting to see how Cisco will get around currently U.S. Laws which have banned the sale of “anti-crime” equipment to China since the Tiananmen Square protests. The ban does not include cameras and video recording equipment but networking equipment for monitoring activities will more than likely come under scrutiny given the scale of the monitoring system on the countries own people.
