2018-11-10 01:23 |
The blockchain technology meant freedom to a lot of people. However, in some cases, it is also being used to limit the freedom of certain people. Now, at least two Chinese cities have decided to use the blockchain technology in order to track offenders on provisional parole. The city of Foshan and Zhongshan have decided to use the technology to track these people.
Foshan, which started to do it in May, has indicated that bracelets used by the offenders are linked to their system using the blockchain while the city of Zhongshan, which is set in the same province, Guangong, has affirmed that this new system will transcend boundaries and make everything considerably easier to manage. Both cities seem to be using the same software.
On a Facebook post, the People’s Daily, a local news media outlet from China, has indicated that the system has only recently started to be used. It has also affirmed that the officials are allowed to know the exact place in which a local offender is. The information is fully used in real time and the police are warned if the criminal stops using the bracelet.
The post affirms that as the district is very cosmopolitan and many offenders are from other districts, knowing where they are can be a vital way to determine whether the documents that they have to provide are falsified or not. The system is used to help community officers supervise the offenders, too, as it is transparent and effective to gather information about their whereabouts.
This technology can be even used to monitor and calculate personal credit scores which are used as “a way to encourage their return to ordinary city life as soon as possible”, it was reported at the post. All data will be kept for three years after the release of the inmates.
Another report, this one untranslated, affirms that the system has a smart neural network component which can be used in data analysis to detect the possibility of criminals re-offending. The trajectory of the clients can be clearly seen, though the system is far from perfect.
Benefits of this technology include the fact that it will be easier for the parolees to report to human parole officers and they will have a much clearer picture of their activities while using the program.
There are not a lot of public details available for this technology at the moment, however, so it is hard to talk more about it. The project is still under development and it may be altered and improved in the near future.
Not Everybody Likes The IdeaObviously, not everybody is crazy about using the blockchain technology for governmental control. In fact, a considerable portion of the blockchain and crypto fans and investors are very anti-establishment. Because of this, some online activists and figures have criticized the attitude.
It would be a very naive instance to expect governments and corporations to let people have their privacy. That much is obvious. Many governments, not only China’s, will start to use technologies like the blockchain to spy on people and take their freedom, that much is sure.
Will we do something to prevent this from happening? That’s the question.
Similar to Notcoin - Blum - Airdrops In 2024