Skynet Project ‘catches’ correspondent in minutes

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A BBC correspondent was spotted by China’s surveillance program for public security, the Skynet Project, just seven minutes after he “escaped” during a test in Guiyang City in Guizhou Province, southwest China, on Sunday.

Police take a mugshot of BBC correspondent John Sudworth for the test. /Screenshot

In the test at the public security center, Guiyang police first took a mugshot of correspondent John Sudworth who then put his “escape plan” into motion.

John was going to the city center of Guiyang and headed for the railway station. On his way to the station, he passed by several surveillance cameras on a footbridge. After he passed through the security check in the station hall, several police targeted him from behind and the security center matched the image collected at the station with the mugshot stored in the Skynet Project.

John Sudworth's face is scanned when passing through the security check at the railway station. /Screenshot

The project is a real-time pedestrian detection and recognition system, which can read faces, gender, age and even ethnicity. According to a surveillance camera producer, the technology, which has racked up sales of one million cameras, can even match every face with an ID card, and trace back people’s movements within one week.

Such an advanced and sophisticated system would be expected to incur public concerns over privacy.

The Guiyang police explained that police officers will use the system when people are in need of help.

“If you don’t have anything to hide from, there is no need to worry,” Sudworth said.

VCG Photo‍

China has about 20 million surveillance cameras which are used to maintain public security and help police track fugitives, according to a China Central Television documentary on society safety.

1736km

which has sold one million cameras