This City Is Expanding Its CCTV Network Despite Being Among Safest

Hong Kong's police force is taking on a campaign to install thousands of surveillance cameras across the city to ramp up their crime-fighting capabilities. The Chinese city, consistently ranked among the world's safest, plans to introduce facial recognition and artificial intelligence tools to enhance law enforcement. Critics, however, warn that this could come at the cost of privacy and freedom.

Hong Kong has close to 55,000 public CCTV cameras, with plans to add 2,000 more this year, announced security Chief Chris Tang in July. The police force is considering equipping these cameras with facial recognition technology and AI tools to help identify suspects. “The police will definitely comply with relevant laws,” said the force in a statement to CNN, though details on when these technologies might be deployed remain vague.

Experts are raising alarms about the repressive potential of surveillance technology, especially in Hong Kong. They draw parallels to mainland China's extensive surveillance systems, highlighting the heightened concern in Hong Kong, where political dissent has been severely limited since the national security law was introduced after the 2019 anti-government protests.

Hong Kong already has more than 54,500 public CCTV cameras, equating to about seven cameras per 1,000 people. That number puts it on par with major cities like New York, though far behind China's urban centres, where an average of 440 cameras per 1,000 people is commonplace. 

Mr Tang highlighted that countries like the UK have also started using facial recognition cameras. However, experts warn that even in these democracies, the implementation of such technology has raised significant concerns about privacy. 

Normann Witzleb, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said, “It's important to design guidelines for those systems that take proper recognition of the potential benefits that they have, but that also acknowledge they're not foolproof, and that they have the potential to interfere with (people's) rights in serious ways,” he said. 

Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, warned that the new cameras could be used for political repression under the guise of fighting crime. “This is likely to be a further step in making Hong Kong law enforcement closer to how it is done on the Chinese mainland,” he said.

Samantha Hoffman, a nonresident fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research, noted, “The difference is how the technology is being used.” While Western democracies face their challenges with surveillance technology, she argues that the situation in Hong Kong is fundamentally different due to the legal framework supporting the government's authority. She remarked, “When you feel like you're being monitored, that affects your behaviour and your feelings of freedom,” as per CNN.