US Firms Complicit as China Fortifies Police State

'Bush would do what they are doing here in a heartbeat if he could,' expert says
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 2, 2008 5:28 PM CDT
US Firms Complicit as China Fortifies Police State
Visitors react to their age estimated by Omron Corporation's "OKAO (Face) Vision" during the Security Show at Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Friday, March 7, 2008.   (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Free Tibet protests 3 months ago allowed China to road-test a new security network before the summer Olympics, Naomi Klein writes in Rolling Stone. Under the so-called “Golden Shield,” China is now installing closed-circuit cameras nationwide linked to facial recognition and other biometric software—technology from big-name US firms like IBM, Honeywell, and General Electric.

Despite a ban dating back to Tiananmen Square days, Klein thinks post-9/11 America will happily import a version of Golden Shield once it's operational in China. "George W. Bush," a US-based consultant said, "would do what they are doing here in a heartbeat if he could." (More China stories.)

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