Hello! I promised a long time ago to talk about how China is implementing "digital surveillance" of its citizens. Most of the publications on this topic are reminiscent of the saying "we do not see the forest for the trees."
If this is the first time you hear about "social rating" in the PRC, its essence is to assign conditional "1000 points" to citizens. Are you breaking the law? Don't pay utility bills? Do you support political views objectionable to the regime? Your rating goes down.
What already today, in 2018, the owners of a "low rating" cannot do? They are forbidden to buy tickets for planes and high-speed trains. The need for documents to purchase tickets is the norm in most civilized countries, but China goes further, combining video surveillance, data collection and "social rating" into a single mechanism controlled by the authorities.
China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation CEIEC has been implementing digital video surveillance system, not only in China, but also "for export". So, in 2016, China donated (!) its developments to Ecuador, where cameras were able to recognize the faces of more than 16 million citizens. This allowed Ecuador to reduce its crime rate by 24%. Using mobile phone tracking along with a facial recognition system, the clearance rate has risen to unprecedented (for Ecuador) heights. This was an example of the positive results from increased public safety (there are more security cameras in London than in all of Ecuador), but back to China.
In which provinces has China introduced a "social ranking" system? The first was the Tibet Autonomous Region, the second - the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). These are politically and socially unstable regions. There are now more than 176 million CCTV cameras installed in China (in the US, about three times less).
Police stations store photographs of all residents, allowing the facial recognition system to be trained. The route of each resident can be tracked, and for citizens who are under surveillance for some reason, tracking "deviations from the route" can be done automatically.
Enough for police control? In China, they don't. In 2017, "free medical examination" began for ALL citizens (from 12 to 65 years old) in the above regions. In total, 18 out of 21 million people living in the region passed it.
Guess why such a sudden generosity from the state was directed to the most "difficult" region? During the medical examination, the following information was collected: photographs, fingerprints, scans of the iris, data on blood type and DNA. All these biometric data are tied to an electronic identity card, and in case of refusal to provide, the police intervene in the matter.
So, under the guise of a medical examination, the police collected more than 18 million DNA samples and other personal data.
In total, the PRC database stores DNA data for 54 million citizens. The US has data on only 13 million Americans.
Forgery of documents, avoiding CCTV cameras, finally just being able to quickly leave the region (for example, for political dissidents) from China will become literally an impossible task. In problem areas, for example, it is impossible to use gas stations without an identity card, not to mention police control (a camera with face recognition is installed in police glasses) and the introduction of iris control in Chinese institutions. And this is not to mention the control of traffic within China.
Imagine the possibilities of China, where the authorities have no legal barriers to collecting any data - from user behavior on the Internet, to their biometric data, and compare it with any dystopian future scenarios.
The Facebook scandal, where the personal data of 50 million people are affected, does not seem so significant anymore, right?
If this is the first time you hear about "social rating" in the PRC, its essence is to assign conditional "1000 points" to citizens. Are you breaking the law? Don't pay utility bills? Do you support political views objectionable to the regime? Your rating goes down.
What already today, in 2018, the owners of a "low rating" cannot do? They are forbidden to buy tickets for planes and high-speed trains. The need for documents to purchase tickets is the norm in most civilized countries, but China goes further, combining video surveillance, data collection and "social rating" into a single mechanism controlled by the authorities.
China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation CEIEC has been implementing digital video surveillance system, not only in China, but also "for export". So, in 2016, China donated (!) its developments to Ecuador, where cameras were able to recognize the faces of more than 16 million citizens. This allowed Ecuador to reduce its crime rate by 24%. Using mobile phone tracking along with a facial recognition system, the clearance rate has risen to unprecedented (for Ecuador) heights. This was an example of the positive results from increased public safety (there are more security cameras in London than in all of Ecuador), but back to China.
In which provinces has China introduced a "social ranking" system? The first was the Tibet Autonomous Region, the second - the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). These are politically and socially unstable regions. There are now more than 176 million CCTV cameras installed in China (in the US, about three times less).
Police stations store photographs of all residents, allowing the facial recognition system to be trained. The route of each resident can be tracked, and for citizens who are under surveillance for some reason, tracking "deviations from the route" can be done automatically.
Enough for police control? In China, they don't. In 2017, "free medical examination" began for ALL citizens (from 12 to 65 years old) in the above regions. In total, 18 out of 21 million people living in the region passed it.
Guess why such a sudden generosity from the state was directed to the most "difficult" region? During the medical examination, the following information was collected: photographs, fingerprints, scans of the iris, data on blood type and DNA. All these biometric data are tied to an electronic identity card, and in case of refusal to provide, the police intervene in the matter.
So, under the guise of a medical examination, the police collected more than 18 million DNA samples and other personal data.
In total, the PRC database stores DNA data for 54 million citizens. The US has data on only 13 million Americans.
Forgery of documents, avoiding CCTV cameras, finally just being able to quickly leave the region (for example, for political dissidents) from China will become literally an impossible task. In problem areas, for example, it is impossible to use gas stations without an identity card, not to mention police control (a camera with face recognition is installed in police glasses) and the introduction of iris control in Chinese institutions. And this is not to mention the control of traffic within China.
Imagine the possibilities of China, where the authorities have no legal barriers to collecting any data - from user behavior on the Internet, to their biometric data, and compare it with any dystopian future scenarios.
The Facebook scandal, where the personal data of 50 million people are affected, does not seem so significant anymore, right?
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Hello! See what the fake news of the future will look like. In the video, the former US president "says" things that can cause a real scandal. In fact, he does not say them, it's all technology
Hello! You can watch the Google I/O conference broadcast here:
https://youtu.be/ogfYd705cRs
The broadcast began an hour ago, but the first speakers will speak only in half an hour. Should be interesting, let's see what Alphabet Inc, who owns Google, has prepared for us 🤖
https://youtu.be/ogfYd705cRs
The broadcast began an hour ago, but the first speakers will speak only in half an hour. Should be interesting, let's see what Alphabet Inc, who owns Google, has prepared for us 🤖
YouTube
Keynote (Google I/O '18)
Learn about the latest product and platform innovations at Google in a Keynote led by Sundar Pichai.
This video is also subtitled in Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Access Google Pay Business Console to get your…
This video is also subtitled in Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Access Google Pay Business Console to get your…
UPD: And so that the audience does not get bored, Google launched a game project from AI Experiments https://g.co/worlddraw - open the site from your smartphone, draw an object and add it to the world map 🚀
(http://telegra.ph/file/96885a224aef0208a2557.jpg) Hello! News from China is like a portal to the near future. If it seems to you that some technologies are only waiting for the next generation, then in China they do not understand why to wait.
Meet Hangzhou Middle School Student CCTV System that recognizes every student's emotions. Throughout the lesson, the cameras capture the emotions of each student: sadness, joy, disappointment, fear, surprise, anger and neutral behavior.
If one of the students decides to be distracted in class, the teacher will receive a notification. At the end of the academic semester, students will be automatically divided into groups "A" (concentrated) and "B" (distracted).
And some photos of the system itself:
Meet Hangzhou Middle School Student CCTV System that recognizes every student's emotions. Throughout the lesson, the cameras capture the emotions of each student: sadness, joy, disappointment, fear, surprise, anger and neutral behavior.
If one of the students decides to be distracted in class, the teacher will receive a notification. At the end of the academic semester, students will be automatically divided into groups "A" (concentrated) and "B" (distracted).
And some photos of the system itself:
Hello! The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-17 weather satellite launched three months ago into space sent its first image of the Earth:
Hello! After a short pause, it is especially pleasant to share information about a local event: on October 13-14, a hackathon of media projects will be held in the UNIT.CITY innovation park (Kyiv), with a prize fund of $5,000.
The organizer is the MEGOGO company (one of the few that provides the opportunity to watch licensed video content in Ukrainian language "in our latitudes").
Participation and registration in the event is free, but keep in mind that the hackathon will last 48 hours (they will definitely feed and drink energy drinks, they even promise to give out toothbrushes and paste).
You can register for the hackathon using Telegram using the following link: https://dashboard.hackathon.media/login
The organizer is the MEGOGO company (one of the few that provides the opportunity to watch licensed video content in Ukrainian language "in our latitudes").
Participation and registration in the event is free, but keep in mind that the hackathon will last 48 hours (they will definitely feed and drink energy drinks, they even promise to give out toothbrushes and paste).
You can register for the hackathon using Telegram using the following link: https://dashboard.hackathon.media/login
Hello! Startup incubators are not just about Silicon Valley. Today in Kyiv the center "Civic Tech Center 1991" holds a lecture for startups. They will talk about "digital goals", company valuation, analyze typical mistakes and teach how to make the right presentation for investors.
Such information is not difficult to get yourself, but if the lecture format appeals to you, then this is a good option to spend an evening. The speaker is Al'ona Mysko, a former auditor of PwC and CFO of 2C, and now the head of Quadrate 28 Finance, which provides support to start-ups.
The cost of the lecture is symbolic, but for channel subscribers there is a special promotional code for -50% INVESTMENT50
You can sign up for the event via FB:
https://www.facebook.com/events/299203334171963
Such information is not difficult to get yourself, but if the lecture format appeals to you, then this is a good option to spend an evening. The speaker is Al'ona Mysko, a former auditor of PwC and CFO of 2C, and now the head of Quadrate 28 Finance, which provides support to start-ups.
The cost of the lecture is symbolic, but for channel subscribers there is a special promotional code for -50% INVESTMENT50
You can sign up for the event via FB:
https://www.facebook.com/events/299203334171963
Hello! It is easy to miss interesting material in the flow of information. I waited a whole day and made sure that this text is recommended for reading by many channels.
This article is from the well-known publication Meduza. Try to read the passage and guess which country it is. Everything described is not fiction:
On every street, looking in any direction, one can now see a police post covered with barbed wire. Video cameras hang everywhere - on the roofs of houses, on brackets screwed to the walls, on street lamps and on metal trusses specially installed above the streets. The city is divided into blocks, and when moving from one block to another, each resident is required to present a plastic ID, enlighten the bag, scan the pupil, and in some cases, give the policeman his phone for review. The same procedure awaits them in the bank, in the hospital, in the supermarket and in the underground passage. The streets are patrolled by armored cars, special forces and brigades of volunteer squads, periodically stopping passers-by to check their identity. Three such vigilantes, noticing that I had photographed a police officer, forced me to delete the picture and followed us openly for the rest of the evening.
The text is easy to read and exciting. Put all your affairs aside and get comfortable - this is a real find, a text about a digital dystopia, which is no longer fiction, but our reality (https://meduza.io/feature/2018/09/18/kontslager-na-10-millionov-chelovek ).
This article is from the well-known publication Meduza. Try to read the passage and guess which country it is. Everything described is not fiction:
On every street, looking in any direction, one can now see a police post covered with barbed wire. Video cameras hang everywhere - on the roofs of houses, on brackets screwed to the walls, on street lamps and on metal trusses specially installed above the streets. The city is divided into blocks, and when moving from one block to another, each resident is required to present a plastic ID, enlighten the bag, scan the pupil, and in some cases, give the policeman his phone for review. The same procedure awaits them in the bank, in the hospital, in the supermarket and in the underground passage. The streets are patrolled by armored cars, special forces and brigades of volunteer squads, periodically stopping passers-by to check their identity. Three such vigilantes, noticing that I had photographed a police officer, forced me to delete the picture and followed us openly for the rest of the evening.
The text is easy to read and exciting. Put all your affairs aside and get comfortable - this is a real find, a text about a digital dystopia, which is no longer fiction, but our reality (https://meduza.io/feature/2018/09/18/kontslager-na-10-millionov-chelovek ).
Hello! In the near future, two reflectors may appear in orbit. The first is a prototype that Elon Musk will launch. Thanks to the reflected sunlight, it can be observed in the sky with the naked eye.
The second is an ambitious project by the authorities in the southern Chinese city of Chengdu, who plan to launch their reflector in 2020. It will "hover" over the city and will give a spot of sunlight with a diameter of 10 to 80 kilometers. What for? To save on city lighting at night!
The city itself occupies a circle of 125 kilometers, so only the center will be illuminated.
How bright will the reflector satellite be? About 8 times brighter than the moon. In addition, the boundaries of the light spot can be adjusted if necessary.
Ready for a future where cities are illuminated by satellites at night?
The second is an ambitious project by the authorities in the southern Chinese city of Chengdu, who plan to launch their reflector in 2020. It will "hover" over the city and will give a spot of sunlight with a diameter of 10 to 80 kilometers. What for? To save on city lighting at night!
The city itself occupies a circle of 125 kilometers, so only the center will be illuminated.
How bright will the reflector satellite be? About 8 times brighter than the moon. In addition, the boundaries of the light spot can be adjusted if necessary.
Ready for a future where cities are illuminated by satellites at night?
Hello! IBM, together with the scientific community of the Technical University of Munich, published a recent study on quantum computers in the journal Science.
The most curious fact is that even if quantum computers were already ubiquitous, we would be faced with an acute shortage of tasks for them. In other words, first we have to find out "why" we need quantum PCs, except for just a few highly specialized tasks (which one way or another are already being solved by existing supercomputers).
In fact, this confirms the fears of scientists that, apart from an acute cryptographic crisis in the next few years, early quantum technologies may simply “be of no use”. And this problem must be solved before they appear.
Source (English): http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6412/308
The most curious fact is that even if quantum computers were already ubiquitous, we would be faced with an acute shortage of tasks for them. In other words, first we have to find out "why" we need quantum PCs, except for just a few highly specialized tasks (which one way or another are already being solved by existing supercomputers).
In fact, this confirms the fears of scientists that, apart from an acute cryptographic crisis in the next few years, early quantum technologies may simply “be of no use”. And this problem must be solved before they appear.
Source (English): http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6412/308
Science
Quantum advantage with shallow circuits
Parallel quantum circuits outperform classical counterparts at solving certain linear algebra problems.
В какой тематике ожидаете самых крутых новостей в 2019?
Anonymous Poll
21%
Самоуправляемый транспорт
24%
Искусственный интеллект
3%
Блокчейн-тематика
10%
Альтернативная энергетика
5%
Робототехника
12%
Космические исследования
6%
Виртуальная/дополненная реальность
8%
Здравоохранение и биотехнологии
11%
SkyNet, киборги, пришельцы
Hello! This is a real photo of the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, which scientists obtained thanks to the Event Horizon Telescope project.
This image is from data collected in 2017 using eight radio telescopes around the world.
The distance to the object is 55 million light years from Earth. The mass of this black hole is 6.5 billion solar masses.
This image is from data collected in 2017 using eight radio telescopes around the world.
The distance to the object is 55 million light years from Earth. The mass of this black hole is 6.5 billion solar masses.