The rapid growth in the security video surveillance market brings along with it its own set of concerns. The video surveillance market was valued at USD 30.37 Billion in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 75.64 Billion by 2022. Many claim that the war on terror is responsible for much of the growth in this industry sector, however not everyone is convinced that video surveillance has any deterrent effect on terrorism at all and not enough forensic value to offset the possible attraction that terrorist have to video for propagating their message.
While concerns of a Total Surveillance State in the U.S. and Europe still remains small and on the fringes, China’s social experiment in Xinjiang gives us an idea of what could happen if the proper controls are not implemented now.
China has turned the northwestern region of Xinjiang into a vast experiment in domestic surveillance. WSJ investigated what life is like in a place where one’s every move can be monitored with cutting-edge technology.