Singapore is testing new robots that patrol the streets and berate locals for engaging in "
unwanted social behavior
", raising new concerns about privacy in the Southeast Asian city-state.
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No, the robots do not take the work of the man
"
This new weapon comes in addition to an already well-stocked panoply of surveillance technologies: the island of Singapore already has a large number of surveillance cameras and streetlights equipped with facial recognition technology, allowing authorities to track movements of residents. The government has long promoted the idea of a
hyper-efficient and technologically advanced
“
smart nation
”. Activists believe, however, that the right to privacy is being sacrificed and that residents do not have enough control over the use of their data. Singapore has often been criticized for suppressing civil liberties and its people are accustomed to multiple checks but there are signs of growing unease with intrusive technology.
The patrol-wheeled robots, Singapore's latest innovation, are equipped with seven cameras that detect “
unwanted social behavior
” and give warnings to offenders.
Smoking in an unauthorized area, improperly parking your bike or not respecting the rules of social distancing related to Covid-19, can all be blacklisted behaviors.
Robots justified by a lack of manpower
The government defends its use of the robots, explaining that they were not used to identify offenders or crack down on them during testing, and that they are needed due to a lack of manpower.
"
The working population is decreasing
", underlines Ong Ka Hing, collaborator of the government agency which developed the "
Xavier
"
robots
to be able to mobilize fewer police officers for the patrols.
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The island of some 5.5 million inhabitants has 90,000 cameras for the police, a number that is expected to double by 2030. It also uses facial recognition, via devices often installed on streetlights, to identify people in a crowd.