Expats in Hangzhou unhappy about new mobile tracking app

The Chinese city of Hangzhou is now using a mobile app to track its residents’ lifestyles.

The Chinese city’s authority is reassuring objectors the app will only monitor peoples’ exercise, sleep and drinking, but local social media outlets are outraged by the suggestion. Most are concerned about the invasion of their privacy, but others are fearing the app’s introduction signals an increase in state monitoring of is citizens. Others, including expats, are afraid the city’s government will use the pandemic as an excuse to tighten surveillance.

According to local officials, personal data pulled from the app will be added to sensitive information from their medical records to give a view of the health of all the city’s residents, thus allowing them to better cope with a second wave of the virus, should it occur. Expats and locals alike are taking to social media, pointing out the scheme might simply be an expansion of state monitoring under the guise of epidemic control. One expert in the art of surveillance told English language media the app is exactly the type of surveillance creep warned about by privacy advocates since the introduction of contact tracing apps.

Most expats living and working in China are fully aware of the Communist government’s mass surveillance network, as well as its powerful face recognition software, although the majority believe it’s not deliberately aimed at expats. For new expat arrivals, the creepy feeling of being under non-stop watch is hard to accept as it can totally restrict freedom of assembly and movement.