[Tinkerhell]

SHENZHEN, China-- At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

Data on the chip will include not just the citizen's name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord's phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China's controversial "one child" policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.

lots more:

http://news.com.com/In+China%2C+a+high- ... g=nefd.top

 

[moga]

I thought it illegal since the Clinton administration to ship any technology that contains even a low-performance CPU, such as PS2 or PDA, from USA to China. I can't imagine how the Chinese were able to import cutting-edge American technology that would drive this system if those export prohibitions are still in place.

I swear. I can't understand how some sell out our country for a quick buck. Our advanced technical systems should NEVER be offered to any country hostile to America for a profit.

 

[tace]

I thought it illegal since the Clinton administration to ship any technology that contains even a low-performance CPU, such as PS2 or PDA, from USA to China. I can't imagine how the Chinese were able to import cutting-edge American technology that would drive this system if those export prohibitions are still in place.

I swear. I can't understand how some sell out our country for a quick buck. Our advanced technical systems should NEVER be offered to any country hostile to America for a profit.

Well, its not exporting if they are building it there

Oh, and the European office of the same company will usually ship it to China (or Iran or Libya sometimes) to get around the export hassles.

You don't think they sell PS3s in China?

 

[Tinkerhell]

And you can also just be talking about software to match up with hardware China picks up elsewhare. :lol:

(yes I spelled it that way on purpose)

 

[budder]

I thought it illegal since the Clinton administration to ship any technology that contains even a low-performance CPU, such as PS2 or PDA, from USA to China. I can't imagine how the Chinese were able to import cutting-edge American technology that would drive this system if those export prohibitions are still in place.

I swear. I can't understand how some sell out our country for a quick buck. Our advanced technical systems should NEVER be offered to any country hostile to America for a profit.

Well, its not exporting if they are building it there

Oh, and the European office of the same company will usually ship it to China (or Iran or Libya sometimes) to get around the export hassles.

You don't think they sell PS3s in China?

Sony is American?

 

[moga]

Here's a reference to the export prohibition regarding PS2s I had a foggy recollection of earlier. Now that I've fished up a news story for substantiation, I acknowledge that it doesn't mention China specifically, and it appears that the sanctions to which I originally referred were implemented in the UN, as opposed to written into US Trade Law. A couple-few details fairly easy for an every day joe to muck up in seven years time.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/print ... E_ID=21118

And you can also just be talking about software to match up with hardware China picks up elsewhare.

This is true. But to ensure compatability, especially for a project as vast and expensive as a nationwide biosurveillance infrastructure, usually the software vendor has channel partners in the hardware world that the contract stipulates be used. Those HW companies would likely be American companies. To deviate from that could commonly be a deal breaker, because the software vendor could not ensure adequate technical support unless its product was mated to a platform on which extensive testing was performed. Technical support comprises a substantial amount of a software package's price that's basically cream for the provider, and they usually fight for it to remain in the contract.

That's how it often works in the civilian sector, anyways, and I did operate under those many assumptions, regardless of how practical.

Getting back to the story, in a nutshell, it just pains me to see how comfy and cosy corporate America has gotten with China now that they have a rediculous infusion of American money to burn. Selling out one's country is a hell of a high price to pay for cheap labor. We may have the largest economy now, but from where I'm sitting, it's largely debt financed. If we continue to send US dollars to China to pay for the operations of US corporations in the mainland, and China is buying up US debt with that money at an alarming rate, what position will we hold in tomorrow's world relative to China? Some elite families in US and the like may become asronomically rich today by sending our jobs to Shanghai, but it is at the expense of the financial welfare of future generations of Americans I am afraid.

I just don't get why America is handing over the keys to our financial future literally to the lowest bidder. The production of this software suite for a government openly hostile to our values and culture epitomizes this irony for me. YMMV.