China's Digital Gaze: How Beijing Tracks Foreigners Down To Their Gas Bills
A cybersecurity researcher discovered a Chinese surveillance platform that tracked the personal data and movements of foreigners, including journalists and travelers. The system, linked to a Beijing-based firm, monitored activities ranging from hospital visits to gas usage.
Why it matters
This revelation highlights the extent of China's digital surveillance apparatus and raises significant concerns regarding the privacy and safety of foreign nationals living or traveling in the country.
Marc Hofer spends most of his days combing the internet for signs of how China watches its own people. It is a habit that began during his years there as a foreign correspondent. But nothing prepared him for the moment, earlier this year, when he opened an obscure website and found his own photograph staring back at him, alongside his passport number and a mobile number he had once used in the country.China already tracks its 1.4 billion citizens through an enormous web of cameras, phone signals and national identity records. Now, the chance discovery by a cybersecurity researcher has shown how far that surveillance reaches when it comes to foreigners too, right down to their ski trips, hospital visits and gas bills.The site called itself the Dynamic Control Platform for Overseas Personnel.
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