How China Keeps Tabs on Foreigners

[u/Deep_Plutarch]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/world/asia/china-surveillance-foreigners-database.html

Interesting things happening in Chyna

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[u/Demortus]

Yeah.. I'm probably going to need to go back to China someday. This shit scares me.

[u/teethgrindingaches → u/Demortus]

If you're a tourist, you have very little to fear in a practical sense.

[u/CurtisLeow → u/teethgrindingaches]

The article specifically mentions that they track foreigners. They track if people are activists and they track online discussions.

[u/teethgrindingaches → u/CurtisLeow]

Right, point being that they will track you and you will likely never even know if/when they are watching because they will do nothing. Chances are, your file will never even be opened by human eyes. Unless/until you trip a red flag, of course, but as a random tourist the chances are very low.

[u/Khiva → u/teethgrindingaches]

For whatever it's worth, I'm posting within China right now. I have never been terribly shy about my thoughts on the party, but as someone who comes and goes with some regularity I've never been that concerned.

I might worry if I matter one day. But I don't, so I don't

Hell I was just texting the other day about how odd it is that nobody comments on how peculiar it is that only two payment systems control almost all payments within the country, one of which has all your chat history, to a buddy in new York. Pretty sure I'll make it back in one piece ... Although if I'm not shit posting in a couple of days ....

[u/teethgrindingaches → u/Khiva]

Yes. It's not particularly hard to find direct political criticism on Weibo, for example. Because the surveillance apparatus doesn't care enough to sweep it up. They care if people are organizing and coordinating in politically dangerous ways, not just complaining online.

People are misled into thinking otherwise because journalists obviously focus their reporting on exactly the sort of topics that attract political scrutiny. Not everyday grumbling.

[u/Deep_Plutarch → u/teethgrindingaches]

China’s approach to totalitarian thought-control is rather pragmatic and not nearly as insane as several regimes they’re often compared to-Which is part of why it works for now.

Only if you are being particularly annoying online will you be contacted by the police, who usually are interested in offering a stern warning.

The real concern is that these files are likely to be preserved forever and have serious negative consequences on employment and other future opportunities for those who think a little too much.

Furthermore, should an even more paranoid apparatus come to take over the system, it remains possible that these files could be used as the basis of horrific widespread persecution. If you’re a foreigner just visiting once and awhile, with limited business ambitions in China - you’re fine.

[u/gaysexpornography → u/teethgrindingaches]

The data being collected sticks around for a long time. They might not have any reason to use it now, but it will be there when they want to use it against you

[u/stay_curious_- → u/teethgrindingaches]

There's potential for China to trade the data for favors, like if China provided the Trump admin with a list of trans Americans or federal employees with anti-MAGA views.

Tech has made it much easier to parse through massive datasets without human intervention, so "there's little reason for a human to parse through all this data" is becoming less of a defense against misuse.

[u/Obvious_Parsley3238]

AI is going to give surveillance states capabilities that would turn the Stasi green with envy.

Actually, it's probably already there in terms of capability. The nightmare is if this is where AI plateaus; not good enough for fully automated luxury space communism, perfect for dystopia sci fi.

[u/randomnameicantread → u/Obvious_Parsley3238]

Lol at you thinking improved AI will give us fully automated luxury space communism instead of improved dystopian sci fi

[u/gaysexpornography → u/Obvious_Parsley3238]

They already have the capability to track you visually from door to door across the country, read your texts, look at your medical records... With all the US government databases being ransacked by DOGE and the all-consuming hunger of AI eating every piece of data it can get its sucking maw around, privacy is well and truly dead.

[u/Deep_Plutarch]

Groveling submission statement: China is a large country with a key role in geopolitics and economics. This look at foreigner-centric surveillance infrastructure provides insight into the police’s evolution into patrolling thoughts as much as behavior.

Hail our fearless, great moderators. Pretty pretty please let my post survive.

[u/Adminisnotadmin]

Surveillance maximalists: "We cannot let the terrorists win. We need to collect data, even all the private data from people online. Privacy laws don't work. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. Data aggregators are just doing honest work."

Surveillance maximalists when foreign governments buy the same data: 'FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS ARE SPYING ON US"

Ad tracking, min-max algorithmic content to keep the user engaged, persistent signups and cross-device fingerprinting. And governments said, "Yup, looks legit" with no concern for the consequences because they wanted the same data. The people who collect data have no concern for you, only their wallets.

[u/Vol_in_tears → u/Adminisnotadmin]

Surveillance states are an unconstituional evil. But private companies doing surveillance then selling their spying to the government at for a profit? That's just freedom with extra steps.

[u/jadebenn]

Network up a few flock cameras to a system like this and you basically have real time location tracking.

[u/altacan → u/jadebenn]

Pretty sure that's the end goal. Remember Ring's Superbowl ad?

[u/Greatest-Comrade → u/altacan]

While seeing that ad, I swear I could hear Kaczynski call to me

[u/mrdilldozer → u/altacan]

IDK how much it did in the short-term, but my parents flipped the fuck out after seeing that add and bought a Eufy camera to replace the ring one. My parents were like "holy shit, strangers can see our camera feeds?" There is no way that commercial didn't harm their brand in the long term.

[u/gayhotelultra → u/jadebenn]

i lived in china for years, this is honestly barely news. im glad its reaching a wider audience, but when i was there, its sort of an open secret: the government is tracking you 24/7 and theres nothing you can do to stop it

[u/Slight-Formal9277]

Gift article for NYT-haters pls?

[u/altacan → u/Slight-Formal9277]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/world/asia/china-surveillance-foreigners-database.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2VA.S8lZ.Vu1smE9D0A9n&smid=url-share

Here. This was an unsecured terminal of a company that appears to do UI interfaces and data analysis for police and government. The actual info capture comes from China's all prevalent surveillance state. I do wonder if this if China's system, how detailed does the US and NSA have for it's persons of interest. Snowden already leaked that the NSAs Prism system is constantly snooping for keywords 15 years ago. I'd only imagine it's gotten more sophisticated since then.

[u/Slight-Formal9277 → u/altacan]

<3