Many have heard about the success of the video surveillance system in China , which brings together 170 million video cameras connected to a single face recognition system. By 2020, the number of cameras will increase to 400 million, plus video surveillance will work through other devices, including through “smart” police glasses. Thanks to total surveillance, the authorities hope that they will be able to quickly locate any criminal who is on the federal wanted list.

A similar system began to be developed in Moscow, Kommersant writes . True, it is far from the Chinese scale. The software for face recognition processes the image so far only with cameras at several metro stations (from which - not reported). But the plans of the authorities are ambitious.

The facial recognition system in the Moscow Metro was launched in March 2018: “Particular attention is paid to stations located in close proximity to the venues of the matches during the 2018 World Cup,” the Moscow Metro State Unitary Enterprise told the press service. “A different number of cameras has been installed, ensuring the fixation of all incoming and outgoing passengers, taking into account the design and size of the station.”

The power of the data center does not yet allow to automatically recognize the faces of all citizens who fall into the frame. Search and identification is carried out exclusively on the list of persons who are wanted. The software processes only 20 persons per second. They are checked with photos from the federal search base.

The cost of the currently installed facial recognition equipment was about 30 million rubles. Based on the results of the pilot program, a decision will be made on the final configuration and architecture of the project.

Similar systems of face recognition through video surveillance cameras are deployed at the Kazan station in Moscow and at the Petrovsky stadium in St. Petersburg. In early 2018, a pilot project on testing facial recognition systems was launched at Domodedovo. Similar systems operate in Almetyevsk (Tatarstan) and some other cities. The face recognition system from the Vocord company works at the stations in Adler, Ryazan, at the stadium in Omsk, Kommersant reports. In the Moscow metro, several times such pilot projects were conducted and tenders were announced, but it never came to full-scale deployment.

Experts say that ordinary general cameras, which are installed 140 thousand in Moscow, are not suitable for face recognition. Here we need new cameras installed against the movement of people at an angle of no more than 15%.

Total Surveillance and Meritocracy

So far, the video surveillance system has serious technical limitations, low accuracy and limited scope, but in the future it can be significantly expanded. For example, in China, a national system of social credit is currently being developed - every citizen receives a certain rating, depending on his actions in society. Good, respectable and honest citizens will have a high social rating. Thieving, selfish citizens - low rating, if they do nothing good for society.

It depends on the social rating how much this person can be trusted, whether it is possible to give out things for rent without collateral, a loan for a large amount, etc. If a person commits a crime, a certain amount of points are taken away from his social rating. If you transferred a grandmother across the road - add extra points. People with a high social rating - smart, kind and beloved citizens - will receive honor, respect, special services in public institutions, etc.

In September 2016, the Chinese government published an updated list of sanctions to which owners of low ratings will be exposed:

• a ban on working in public institutions;
• social security denial;
• especially careful inspection at customs;
• a ban on senior positions in the food and pharmaceutical industry;
• refusal of air tickets and bed space in night trains;
• failure in places in luxury hotels and restaurants;
• ban on teaching children in expensive private schools.

It is possible that in the future people with a higher social rating will even have more weight when voting in elections. That is, the voice of a highly educated family man with three children in the elections will not be equal to the voice of a drunkard with low IQ, as now, but will be several times more weighty. Thus, it is possible to abandon the current dictatorship of the uneducated majority and move on to more “advanced” forms of democracy. By and large, this is in some way a realization of the idea of ​​meritocracy, when a person’s personal achievements depend only on his abilities, hard work, attitudes and morality. Interestingly, the myth is widespread in the United States that the principles of meritocracy are already implemented there, although in reality this is not the case: research has shown that inheritance, social and cultural advantages, objective opportunities in the labor market and self-employment, luck, access to quality education and discrimination. In reality, according to some researchers, it was China that in some periods of its history was closest to the implementation of a merito-ending. For example, during the Song dynasty, a three-stage exam system was widely used, with the help of which the most intelligent, talented and capable citizens, understanding art, Confucianism and administrative problems, were selected as rulers (in modern realities, officials and deputies).

So, the system of total video surveillance with face recognition can organically fit into the concept of social rating. Constantly tracking all actions of each person, the system can automatically evaluate these actions - and change each person’s social rating in real time. Of course, for the sake of a high rating, a person will have to partially sacrifice his privacy, refuse to wear black glasses, caps and other masking elements of clothing.