In China, surveillance cameras are installed in front of the entrance doors and inside the apartments of citizens

CCTV camera in the apartment of an infected citizen. The photo was published in a Weibo message by the municipal authorities of the Chunxi District of Nanjing (the message has now been deleted)

Over time, people are gradually getting used to tightened control in a viral pandemic. Tolerance is being developed even for the toughest measures, writes The Washington Post. In China, surveillance cameras are increasingly being installed individually in front of the front doors and inside apartments of infected residents. In India, the installation of a follow-up program on a mobile phone has become mandatory for all employed citizens in both the public and private sectors.

In CNN publicationseveral cases are listed when surveillance cameras were installed directly in front of the front door or inside the apartment.

For example, according to the rules, everyone who comes to Beijing must retire to 14 days of self-isolation. When the Irish expat Ian Lahiff returned to Beijing after a trip to the southern regions of China, he and his family lawfully went home for quarantine - and the next morning he found a surveillance video camera in the corridor (pictured).


The next morning, after Ian Lahiff returned home, a surveillance camera was installed at his front door.

Ian Lahiff considers the installation of an individual surveillance camera “an incredible erosion of privacy” and doubts its legality. He says that for the employee who installed the camera for him, the application on the smartphone shows a picture from other similar cameras.

In Shenzhen, cameras to monitor quarantined residents transmit images to smartphones by police and community workers, the district government website said in a statement . Below is a screenshot of such an application from a police officer.



However, such an invasion of privacy could well be expected even without an epidemic. The advent of coronavirus simply accelerated the process that started earlier. The trend towards an increase in the number of cameras was visible from statistics over the past years. According to the IHS Markit Technology report , by 2021 the number of surveillance cameras in China will approach 600 million.



Since the country is home to about 1.4 billion people, the number of surveillance cameras and the number of residents in China at this pace could be equal in a few years.


A surveillance camera on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing

The coronavirus pandemic brought surveillance cameras closer to people's private lives, CNN writes: instead of public places in the city, they are now installed in front of the front doors of their houses - and in some rare cases even inside apartments.

For example, the authorities of the Chongxi District of Nanjing City, eastern Jiangsu Province, dated February 16, 2020They wrote that they installed cameras in front of the entrance doors of the apartments, where citizens are on self-isolation. This “helped save staff costs and increase work efficiency” (the message has now been deleted from the Weibo platform).

The government of Wuchunan County in Qianan City, Hebei Province also said it uses surveillance cameras to monitor residents in self-isolation: “Strict isolation and apartment monitoring is an important measure to prevent internal spread and prevention in the fight against the epidemic,” the official statement said. Administration of March 31, 2020.

In Changchun City, northeastern Jilin Province, quarantine cameras in the Chaoyang District are equipped with an artificial intelligence system to detect human outlines,The government website says .

In the eastern city of Hangzhou, the state-owned telecom operator China Unicom helped the authorities set up 238 cameras to monitor the apartments of quarantined residents. The company announced this in its official Weibo channel .






Employees of China Unicom provide video cameras in front of citizens' apartments for self-isolation. Self-isolation


center for video surveillance of citizens

On Weibo, many users publish photos of cameras that are installed in front of their doors in Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Changzhou and other cities. Some of these users agreed to video surveillance, while others have cameras installed without their permission. Some users have beenpre-set before the fact - they were notified of the installation of the video camera by representatives of the house committee (such committees were created in all apartment buildings in communist times).

Another resident in Beijing wrote that he did not consider the camera necessary, “but since this is a standard requirement, (I) am glad to accept it,” wrote Tian Zengjun, a Beijing lawyer.

Many residents, concerned about the spread of the virus in their communities, themselves urge local authorities to install surveillance cameras so that infected people comply with quarantine rules.

Jason Lau, a privacy expert and professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, said that people in China were used to video surveillance long before the coronavirus: “In China, people in any case assume that the government has access to a lot of personal data. If it seems to them that such measures will ensure their safety, preserve the safety of society and meet the best interests of the public, then they are not too worried about this, ”he said.

Cameras inside apartments

In some exceptional cases, surveillance cameras are not installed in front of the front door, but directly in the apartments. For example, civil servant William Zhou (a pseudonym) returned to Changzhou in the eastern province of Jiangsu from his hometown of Anhui in late February. He writes that the next day a public worker and a policeman came to him and installed a camera aimed at the front door from the cabinet wall in the hallway (pictured).




The camera is aimed at the front door from the wall of the cabinet, which is located on the right photo.

William Zhou was furious and asked why the camera could not be put outside. The policeman told him that there she could be damaged (vandals). In the end, the camera was placed on the wall of the cabinet, despite the strong protest of the homeowner.

That evening, Zhou phoned to complain about the mayor’s hotline and the local epidemic command center. Two days later, two local officials came to him and explained the government’s efforts to combat the epidemic, asking for cooperation. They also said that the camera only takes still photos, when there is movement in the frame, it does not record video or audio.

Enhanced surveillance measures are being taken in many countries. For example, in Hong Kong, all arrivals from abroad must wear an electronic bracelet that connects to the smartphone application and warns authorities if they leave their apartments or hotel rooms.


Passengers at Hong Kong International Airport put wrist tracking bracelets on March 19

South Korea uses an application that tracks location using GPS and sends alerts when people leave quarantine.

In March, Poland launched an application that allows people under quarantine to send selfies, informing authorities that they are at home.

In China itself, some citizens are quarantined instead of a video camera with a magnetic alarm on the door, which notifies authorities of the opening of the doors.

Individual video surveillance of quarantined citizens complements the system of multi-colored digital QR codes. The color of the QR code in a special application corresponds to the status of the person: he is allowed to move around the city or he must be on self-isolation.


Green code on CNN journalist's phone in Shanghai

To receive a green QR code (pass) you need to apply with a special application to the municipal authorities. The system of digital passes and forced self-isolation of critics is called the "digital concentration camp" , but subsequently such harsh measures began to be applied in some other countries.

Tong Zongjin, a lawyer from Beijing, says that installing cameras at the front door of a person has always been in the legal gray zone: “The area outside the front door of a person is not part of his private residence and is considered a common space. But the camera can monitor something personal, for example, when a person leaves and returns home, ”he said. The complexity of the problem is compounded by the fact that these cameras are installed by the authorities during an emergency situation in the field of public health in order to combat the epidemic, therefore, human confidentiality must be balanced with public interests and security, the lawyer explained.

A Scandinavian émigré Lina Ali (a pseudonym) living in Guangzhou reported that a video camera was installed in front of her door with lamps that shine brightly in her face when she opens the front door to pick up food delivery.



Lina Ali says this technique makes her feel like a captive inside her own apartment.

William Zhou also claims that the surveillance camera inside the apartment has a psychological effect on him: “I tried not to make phone calls, fearing that the camera would accidentally record my conversations. "I could not stop worrying even when I fell asleep, closing the bedroom door behind me."

However, over time, people gradually become accustomed to increased control. Tolerance is being developed even for the toughest measures, writesThe Washington Post. It is likely that such psychological problems among citizens will be minimized over time thanks to professional psychological assistance.

“Of course, the government is trying to collect as much data as possible to help stop the spread of the virus,” says Jason Lau. “But the authorities should consider whether data collection is appropriate, necessary, and proportionate, and evaluate whether other less intrusive methods exist to do the same without invading privacy.”

Earlier in April, more than a hundred human rights organizations from around the world issued a joint statementin which they called on governments to ensure that the use of digital technologies to track and monitor citizens during a pandemic is in accordance with human rights: “The efforts of states to contain the virus should not be used as a cover for the start of a new era of significantly expanded systems of invasive digital surveillance, - said in a statement. “Technology can and should play an important role in these efforts to save lives.” However, an increase in state powers ... threatens privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of association. This reduces the credibility of government agencies, undermining the effectiveness of any public health measures. ”

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