{"id":241856,"date":"2022-07-19T15:03:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T22:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=241856"},"modified":"2022-07-21T19:39:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T02:39:35","slug":"beijing-pulls-covid-isolation-tracking-bracelets-after-backlash-hong-kong-rollout-goes-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2022\/07\/beijing-pulls-covid-isolation-tracking-bracelets-after-backlash-hong-kong-rollout-goes-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Beijing Pulls COVID Isolation Tracking Bracelets After Backlash; Hong Kong Rollout Goes Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

While many governments elsewhere appear resigned to \u201csliding into the long pandemic defeat<\/a>,\u201d those in China continue to fight COVID-19 with an array of weapons including mass testing, smartphone-based health codes, and district-wide lockdowns. The goal of “dynamic zero” case counts is set by the central government, but as is often the case, decisions about how to pursue it are left to authorities down to the most local levels. Those traveling around the country must therefore navigate an unpredictable, opaque, and sometimes arbitrary mosaic of policies and restrictions. Some long-haul truck drivers, for example, have found themselves taped into their cabs for days after running into mandatory local isolation requirements<\/a> through an unlucky choice of highway exit.<\/p>\n

Last week, authorities in Hong Kong announced a new addition to their arsenal: digital tracking bracelets to monitor adherence to isolation requirements. The devices sparked immediate questions about privacy and risks of deterring people from testing or reporting results. Some local authorities in Beijing, meanwhile, suddenly began distributing similar trackers, sometimes in the middle of the night. On top of similar concerns to those voiced in Hong Kong, the absence of any formally announced requirement led to suspicion that the rollout might be driven by corporate profiteering rather than official policy. The backlash brought predictable online censorship, but also the bracelets’ withdrawal. The contrast between sharp reversal in Beijing and Hong Kong’s unshifting course has fueled arguments that the latter’s residents now live under tighter control, in some respects, than their counterparts on the Chinese mainland.<\/p>\n

Manya Koetse posted an overview of events in Beijing<\/a><\/strong> and the surrounding controversy at What’s On Weibo:<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week, I went on a work trip to Guangzhou and before I returned to Beijing I did the nucleic acid tests in time. I also reported my home isolation to authorities and received the antigen tests. In the middle of the night, I then received a notification from my community that they are giving me an electric bracelet to wear,\u201d one Beijing resident writes on Weibo on July 14: \u201cIf they need to monitor my health, I\u2019ll cooperate with temperature checks and nucleic acid tests at the door, but I cannot accept this so-called 24-hour electronic monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Tech blogger Dahongmao later updated their Weibo story about the bracelets, saying the community staff had come back to retrieve the electronic bracelets on Thursday afternoon because they had received \u201ctoo many complaints.\u201d News of the wristbands being recalled after too many complaints also became a hashtag on Weibo (#\u5927\u91cf\u6295\u8bc9\u8d28\u7591\u540e\u793e\u533a\u56de\u6536\u7535\u5b50\u624b\u73af#).<\/p>\n

[\u2026] On the late afternoon of July 14, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission responded to the online concerns about the electronic wristband, reportedly saying that home isolation is only necessary for people returning to Beijing from inside of China if they are coming from high-risk areas, and that there is no official policy in place regarding the need to wear electronic bracelets. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CDT Chinese has archived a pair of posts on the proliferation of electronic tagging beyond the criminal justice sphere<\/a> and discussion of the bracelets’ manufacture and application<\/a>. Both of these posts are still online at their original locations, but Reuters’ Eduardo Baptista noted widespread censorship of other related content<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

This post and others that shared pictures of the bracelets were removed by Thursday afternoon, as well as a related hashtag that had garnered over 30 million views, generating an animated discussion on the platform.<\/p>\n

A community worker at Tiantongyuan, Beijing’s northern suburb, confirmed to state-backed news outlet Eastday that the measure was in effect in the neighbourhood, though she called the practice “excessive”.<\/p>\n

A Weibo post and a video published on the official account of Eastday.com<\/a> was removed by Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Besides Beijing, several other regions and jurisdictions have introduced bracelets as a COVID control measure, or plan to do so, including Hong Kong, Henan, Inner Mongolia, and Zhejiang, according to Chinese news site Jiemian. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

South China Morning Post’s Phoebe Zhang reported this week on other applications of tracking bracelets<\/a> “to monitor people who have committed offences that are not serious enough to warrant arrest.”<\/p>\n

At The New York Times, Amy Qin, John Liu, and Amy Chang Chien cited the bracelet backlash as part of a growing trend of public hostility to tech-enabled privacy violations<\/a><\/strong>, albeit one focused more on corporate rather than official activities. The story’s primary focus was an enormous leak of personal data from a Shanghai police database<\/a>, for which hosting platform Alibaba seems likely bear the brunt of public blame<\/a>. It also touches on the abuse of health codes to suppress protests by bank depositors in Henan<\/a>. That standoff later turned violent when protesters were attacked by unidentified men<\/a> wearing an informal uniform of white shirts.<\/p>\n

Chinese artists have staged performances to highlight the ubiquity of surveillance cameras. Privacy activists have filed lawsuits against the collection of facial recognition data. Ordinary citizens and establishment intellectuals alike have pushed back against the abuse of Covid tracking apps by the authorities to curb protests. Internet users have shared tips on how to evade digital monitoring.<\/p>\n

As China builds up its vast surveillance and security apparatus, it is running up against growing public unease about the lack of safeguards to prevent the theft or misuse of personal data. The ruling Communist Party is keenly aware of the cost to its credibility of any major security lapses: Last week, it moved systematically to squelch news about what was probably the largest known breach of a Chinese government computer system, involving the personal information of as many as one billion citizens.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] China, which has been racing to create one of the world\u2019s toughest data privacy regimes, frequently excoriates companies for mishandling data. But the authorities rarely point fingers at the country\u2019s other top collector of personal information: the government itself.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] Now, there are signs that people are growing wary of the government and public institutions, too, as they see how their own data is being used against them. Last month, a nationwide outcry erupted over the apparent abuse of Covid-19 tracking technology by local authorities. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Guardian’s Rhoda Kwan, meanwhile, reported last week on the bracelets’ introduction in Hong Kong<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

The quarantine bracelets, to be introduced on Friday, will be mandatory for people who have tested positive and are quarantining at home to ensure they do not leave the building during their isolation period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure that home isolation is more precise while being humane,\u201d Lo Chung-mau, the city\u2019s new health secretary said, announcing the new requirement on Monday. Breaching a mandatory quarantine order in Hong Kong carries a fine of up to HK$25,000 ($3,200) and up to six months in jail.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong has previously used two types of bracelets to track people under home quarantine at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020: an earlier plastic wristband with a QR code and a later one with a bulky electronic tracker. Lo did not clarify which one would be introduced on Friday.<\/p>\n

Under the health codes system, which tracks the movement of people via mobile phones, citizens will be allowed to enter public spaces if the QR code on their account is green. The code turns yellow if people have been in close contact with an infected person, and red if the person has tested positive for the virus. [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AFP’s Xinqi Su relayed further details of Lo’s comments:<\/p>\n

\n

Lo emphasized that the new codes are meant to prevented infected persons from leaving home and entering public venues and are not designed for real-time movement tracking. <\/p>\n

Lo also said the government does not have any consideration for city-wide lock down at all.<\/p>\n

— Xinqi Su \u8607\u6615\u742a (@XinqiSu) July 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n