facial-recognition glasses are being tested by chinese police

UPDATE: on march 12, beijing police in the highly-policed region of xinjiang began testing the glasses.

as if we weren’t scared enough with all the surveillance happening nowadays, chinese railway police have taken a step further by using glasses equipped with facial recognition. enhancing their already impressive surveillance portfolio, the glasses feature bleeding edge optics complete with an advanced facial recognition algorithm that is capable of spotting the desired individual within 100 milliseconds, even in crowded spaces like train stations or airports.

the glasses have already proved successful, helping to catch seven fugitives and 26 people traveling with fake identities 
all images via south china morning post

in order to work, the glasses are connected to tablets that have an offline database able to match passengers with suspected criminals. implemented for the first time by the railway police in zhengzhou, the use of these spectacles has already helped catch seven fugitives related to major criminal cases and 26 others traveling with fake identities.

the dystopian technology—faithful to orwell’s 1984—has been condemned by various human-rights groups arguing that this type of practices violates people’s right to privacy. ‘chinese authorities seem to think they can achieve ‘social stability’ by placing people under a microscope, but these abusive programs are more likely to deepen hostility towards the government,’ said sophie richardson, china director of human rights watch.