Our Brave New World: China Integrating Biometrics and Geographical Mapping

04-17-2011 • fool.com/

Hiding in plain sight In a country that already closely monitors the movements of its people through surveillance cameras such as those installed by China Security & Surveillance Technology (NYSE: CSR ) , it's not such a leap to imagine China controlling the populace through use of the sophisticated technology developed by China Information Technology. CIT uses geographical information technology (GIS) to plot data on maps. While useful for such mundane tasks as locating a bus stop on a map, when combined with the biometric identification systems CIT is developing, it provides law enforcement with a useful tool to monitor individual movement. And local ID card systems can be integrated with police GIS tools to keep track of the estimated 210 million "internal immigrants" in the country. That system is being tested in Shenzhen with an eye toward expanding it to 660 cities across the country. That just so happens to be the same number of cities China Security & Surveillance is seeking to deploy its camera systems in as part of China's Safe Cities plan, part of a larger so-called "Golden Shield," a broad application of technology to monitor, censor, and otherwise contain its citizens. China's not alone in using such technology to watch its people. L-1 Identity Solutions (NYSE: ID ) makes facial recognition technology for use right here in the U.S.