China: The Surveillance State in Practice
The most misleading way to understand surveillance in China is to imagine a single machine.
This article begins a larger NOMOTO MEDIA investigation into artificial intelligence, state surveillance, commercial data collection, predictive profiling, Palantir and related intelligence infrastructure, the legacy of Edward Snowden’s disclosures, and the declining ability of courts and democratic institutions to protect private life.
The most misleading way to understand surveillance in China is to imagine a single machine.
Human civilization has always kept records. Long before computers, databases, intelligence agencies or artificial intelligence, societies learned that memory could be removed from the mind and placed somewhere more durable. Clay tablets recorded grain,…
Privacy is dead.
New from NOMOTO MEDIA
Occasional email with newly published stories, investigations, films, photography, music, and podcasts. No daily newsletter.
Support independent work
NOMOTO MEDIA publishes essays, investigations, fiction, audio, and films without a paywall. If the work is valuable to you, help support the next piece.