{"product_id":"we-have-been-harmonized-life-in-chinas-surveillance-state","title":"We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNamed a Notable Work of Nonfiction of 2020 by the \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs heard on NPR's\u003cem\u003e Fresh Air\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWe Have Been Harmonized\u003c\/em\u003e, by award-winning correspondent Kai Strittmatter,\u003cp\u003eoffers a groundbreaking look, based on decades of research, at how China created the most terrifying surveillance state in history. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChina’s\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003enew drive for repression is being underpinned by unpre­cedented advances in\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etechnology: facial and voice recognition, GPS tracking, supercomputer\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003edatabases, intercepted cell phone conver­sations, the monitoring of app use,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand millions of high-resolution security cameras make it nearly impossible for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ea Chinese citizen to hide anything from authorities. Commercial transactions,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eincluding food deliveries and online purchases, are fed into vast databases,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ealong with everything from biometric information to social media activities to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emethods of birth control. Cameras (so advanced that they can locate a single\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eperson within a stadium crowd of 60,000) scan for faces and walking patterns to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etrack each individual’s move­ment. In some schools, children’s facial\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eexpressions are monitored to make sure they are paying attention at the right\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etimes. In a new Social Credit System, each citizen is given a score for good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ebehavior; for those who rate poorly, punishments include being banned from\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eflying or taking high-speed trains, exclusion from certain jobs, and preventing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etheir children from attending better schools. And it gets worse: advanced\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esurveillance has led to the imprisonment of more than a million Chinese\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ecitizens in western China alone, many held in draconian “reeducation” camps.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis digital\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etotalitarianism has been made possible not only with the help of Chinese private\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etech companies, but the complic­ity of Western governments and corporations\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeager to gain access to China’s huge market. And while governments debate trade\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewars and tariffs, the Chinese Communist Party and its local partners are\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eaggressively stepping up their efforts to export their surveillance\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etechnology\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eabroad—including to the United States. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe Have Been Harmonized \u003c\/em\u003eis a terrifying portrait of life under\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eunprecedented government surveillance—and a dire warning about what could\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ehappen anywhere under the pretense of national security.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Terrifying. … A warning call.\" —\u003cem\u003eThe \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e (UK), a “Best Book of the Year so Far”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kai Strittmatter","offers":[{"title":"Trade Paperback","offer_id":51669906850098,"sku":"9780063027305","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0988\/7934\/0850\/files\/9780063027305.jpg?v=1787958739","url":"https:\/\/53rdstreetbooks.com\/products\/we-have-been-harmonized-life-in-chinas-surveillance-state","provider":"53rd Street Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}