XINJIANG, CHINA — China is using big data to target ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, detaining them on the basis that they may someday threaten the government.<br /><br />Human Rights Watch reports that Beijing has been using surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology, wifi sniffers, and police checkpoints to monitor the country's Uyghur population.<br /><br />Data from these sources, as well as existing health, banking and other records, feeds into the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, a system that uses predictive policing to flag down potential threats.<br /><br />Authorities personally visit flagged individuals and gather more information about their families and ideological situation, but can take into custody anyone deemed suspicious, whether or not they've committed a crime.<br /><br />Most detainees are sent to political education centers, where they are reportedly indoctrinated in Chinese socialist ideology.<br /><br />Reports estimate that roughly 120,000 people are being held indefinitely, without charge or trial, inside the camps.
