監(jiān)控之眼：在中國體驗人臉識別眼鏡

ZHENGZHOU, China —They perch on poles and glare from streetlamps. Some hang barely visible in the ceiling of the subway, and others seem to stretch out on braced necks and peer into your eyes.

中國鄭州——它們待在電線桿上，從街燈的高度向下注視。有些掛在地鐵車廂頂棚人們幾乎看不到的地方，有些好像是伸著經(jīng)過加固的長脖子，直對著你的眼睛。

Surveillance cameras are everywhere in China.

監(jiān)控攝像頭在中國隨處可見。

I pass more than 200 on my 30-minute commute in Shanghai. After a while, they mostly blend into the background. But when spotting a new one, I wonder about them. Is anyone watching? Is a computer parsing the feed? Is it even on?

在上海，我的30分鐘上下班路上有200多個攝像頭。久而久之，它們基本上成了環(huán)境的一部分。但每當(dāng)看到一個新的時，就會引起我的興趣。有人在看嗎?有計算機(jī)在對收集來的視頻進(jìn)行分析嗎?我甚至懷疑這些攝像頭開著嗎。

Trying to get to the bottom of these questions can be infuriating. Chinese people are often unwilling to talk about their run-ins with the police. And the authorities are usually under standing orders not to talk to foreign journalists about much of anything, let alone cutting-edge technologies that snoop on criminals.

有時候為這些問題找到答案是令人惱火的事情。中國人往往不愿談?wù)撍麄兣c警方之間發(fā)生的沖突。有關(guān)部門一直有不與外國記者談任何事情的命令，更別提討論監(jiān)控罪犯的尖端技術(shù)了。

[Read more on China’s efforts to assemble a vast national surveillance system.]

(請看關(guān)于中國大力建造龐大的國家監(jiān)控系統(tǒng)的報道。)

So when I got the chance to see the world through the eyes of a police camera, it was oddly exhilarating. As it goes with reporting in China, often you just have to show up, camp out and hope for the best. In my case, patience and a hefty dose of luck paid off.

所以，當(dāng)我有機(jī)會從警方攝像頭的角度看這個世界時，有一種異常興奮的感覺。與在中國進(jìn)行報道一樣，通常，你也只能是去現(xiàn)場待一段時間，希望能得到點什么。對我來說，耐心和巨大的運(yùn)氣給我?guī)砹嘶貓蟆?/p>

The opportunity arose during a reporting trip to the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou several months ago. A colleague and I had traveled there to try to learn about facial recognition glasses that the police had been experimenting with ahead of the big Chinese New Year holiday.

機(jī)會出現(xiàn)在幾個月前去中國中部城市鄭州做報道期間。我和一名同事為了解人臉識別眼鏡去了鄭州，警方一直在中國春節(jié)假期前試驗這種眼鏡。

When we first got to the city’s train station, a police officer gleefully likened the specs to a pair in “Mission Impossible.” But then press officials rebuffed requests to try them. The glasses had been on display, but no longer, they said.

當(dāng)我們第一次來到鄭州火車站時，一名警官正在興高采烈地把這種眼鏡與《碟中諜》(Mission Impossible)中的一副作比較。但隨后，媒體官員拒絕了記者試試眼鏡的請求。他們說，曾經(jīng)展出過這些眼鏡，但展期已過。

We roamed the cavernous train station, hoping to catch a glimpse of them while taking in the scenes. Often in China, the mundane contains a bit of the absurd.

我們在巨大的火車站里閑逛，在熟悉環(huán)境的同時希望能看到它們一眼。在中國，平凡的事物中往往包含著一點荒謬。

On the second floor, the military was decamped to help with crowd control ahead of the holiday. Their green camouflage tents, pitched inside the building, stuck out inside the drab gray station. Outside the camp was a sign warning all who approached that they were entering a battlefield. Below, on the departures floor, janitors had attached mops to the front of motorized scooters, cleaning the large marble floors with the efficiency of a Zamboni.

在火車站的二樓，軍隊已被派來幫助假期前的人群控制工作。他們搭在大樓里的綠色迷彩帳篷，在單調(diào)的灰色車站中特別顯眼。軍營外有一個標(biāo)志，警告所有接近的人，他們正在進(jìn)入戰(zhàn)場。在一樓的出站大廳里，清潔工們把拖把安裝在機(jī)動踏板車的前部，以贊博尼磨冰機(jī)的效率在清洗大理石地板。

Within a few hours, we spied Shan Jun, a deputy police chief, who was demonstrating the glasses amid the crowds of travelers heading home for the holiday. It turned out they were still on display for news media, just the state-run kind that Beijing controls.

幾個小時后，我們突然看見了派出所副所長單軍(音)，他正在向回家過春節(jié)的游客們展示這種眼鏡。我們后來才知道，眼鏡仍在對新聞媒體展出，只不過只對北京控制的官方媒體而已。

We tagged along and caught a break. Mr. Shan, who was affably holding court, gladly handed over the device to try.

我們尾隨其后，機(jī)會來了。和藹可親地給人們講解的單軍很高興地把這副眼鏡交給我們試試。

One of the more dystopian tools of China’s burgeoning surveillance-industrial complex, it was not exactly slick or really all that functional. A small camera is mounted to a pair of sunglasses. The camera is then connected by wire to a minicomputer that looks and works a bit like an oversize smartphone. The device checks the images snapped by the camera against a database. In essence, it’s a moving version of the photo systems that some countries have at customs checkpoints.

這個在中國迅速發(fā)展的監(jiān)控工業(yè)復(fù)合體中格外有反烏托邦色彩的工具，并不算特別精致或有效。一個小攝像頭安在了一副墨鏡上。然后把攝像頭用電線連接到一臺微型電腦上，電腦的樣子和工作方式有點像一個超大的智能手機(jī)。該設(shè)備用一個數(shù)據(jù)庫來檢查拍攝的圖像。從本質(zhì)上說，它是一些國家在海關(guān)檢查站使用的攝像系統(tǒng)的移動版本。

With a bit of squinting and adjustment I found my right eye looking through a view finder like one on an old video camera. First I was instructed to aim it at a female officer. A small rectangle appeared around her head, and after a few seconds, the screen displayed her name and national identification number. I then repeated the process on Mr. Shan.

瞇著眼進(jìn)行了一番調(diào)整之后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)我的右眼在通過一個取景器看外邊，這個取景器有點像老式錄像機(jī)用的那種。我先是被告知把視線對準(zhǔn)一名女警官。一個小矩形出現(xiàn)在她的頭像周圍，幾秒鐘后，屏幕上顯示出她的名字和身份證號。之后，我對單軍重復(fù)了這個過程。

Emboldened, I tried the glasses out on a group standing about 20 feet away. For a moment, the glasses got a lock on a man’s face. But then the group noticed me, and the man blocked his face with his hand. The minicomputer failed to register a match before he moved. Seconds later, the people scattered.

有了信心之后，我用站在5、6米外的一群人來測試這副眼鏡。有那么一會兒，眼鏡鎖住了一個男人的臉。但這時，那群人注意到了我，那個男人用手擋住了臉。在他走開之前，小計算機(jī)沒有在數(shù)據(jù)庫里找到他的名字。幾秒鐘后，這群人散開了。

Their reaction was somewhat surprising. Chinese people often report that they’re comfortable with government surveillance, and train stations are known to be closely watched. The logic often expressed is that those who are law abiding have nothing to fear.

他們的反應(yīng)有些出人意料。中國人常說，他們不擔(dān)心政府的監(jiān)視，大家都知道，火車站是受到密切監(jiān)視的地方。人們常這樣解釋，遵紀(jì)守法的人沒有什么可害怕的。

The men fleeing from my techno-enhanced gaze clearly felt differently — and I assume they weren’t criminals on the lam.

那些從我的用技術(shù)增強(qiáng)的凝視中逃走的人，顯然有不同的感受，而且我猜他們不是在逃罪犯。

Having a foreigner like me leering at them was certainly unusual. But later, as I watched the police continue to demonstrate the device, I noticed a similar pattern, if less exaggerated. The curious clustered to check out this brave new tech, but plenty of others strode quickly away, faces turned.

像我這樣的外國人盯著他們看當(dāng)然是不尋常的事情。但后來，我在觀察警察繼續(xù)展示這個裝置時，也注意到一個類似的規(guī)律，頂多只是沒那么夸張。好奇者聚集在一起，想看看這個全新的技術(shù)，但也有很多人把臉轉(zhuǎn)過去，很快地走開。

In some ways, a lack of information has conditioned such behavior. The abilities and intentions of the authorities here are rarely clear, and uncertainty is part of the point. The less people know, the more they need to use their imagination. China’s surveillance state is far from perfect, but if people don’t know where it excels and where it breaks down, there’s a better chance they’ll assume it’s working and behave.

從某種角度來說，缺乏信息導(dǎo)致了這種行為。這里的當(dāng)局的能力和意圖很少是明確的，而不確定性正是其中一個目的。人們知道的越少，就越需要靠他們的想象力。中國的監(jiān)控遠(yuǎn)非十全十美，但如果人們不知道它的長處與不足，他們就更有可能假設(shè)系統(tǒng)是有效的，從而檢點自己的行為。

Later, we learned that the press officer had initially rejected our request to see the glasses to avoid unmasking too much about the databases that powered it. Someone from Beijing, the press officer said, had called and said the exposure could show gaps in their new methods for tracking criminals.

后來，我們了解到，那名新聞官員最初拒絕了我們想看眼鏡的要求，是為了避免暴露太多有關(guān)眼鏡背后的數(shù)據(jù)庫的信息。新聞發(fā)言人說，有人從北京打來電話說，讓記者看眼鏡可能會暴露他們追蹤罪犯的新方法中的漏洞。

With so much obscurity, many Chinese people see the authorities for what they are — erratic, unrestrained and now equipped with unpredictable new powers. The group in the train station was simply making a prudent choice and giving the police, their goofy electronic glasses and their strange foreign friend wide berth.

在這么琢磨不透的情況下，許多中國人認(rèn)清了當(dāng)局的本質(zhì)——不可靠、無制約，如今又擁有不可預(yù)測的新力量?；疖囌纠锏哪侨喝酥皇亲龀隽艘粋€謹(jǐn)慎的選擇，對警察、他們傻乎乎的電子眼鏡，以及他們奇怪的外國朋友躲遠(yuǎn)點好。

Many critics call China’s surveillance ambitions Orwellian, and they are. But for China today, the world imagined by Franz Kafka offers a closer vision: bureaucratic, unknowable and ruled by uncertainty as much as fear.

許多批評人士說中國的監(jiān)控野心是奧威爾式的，這沒錯。但對目前的中國來說，弗朗茨·卡夫卡(Franz Kafka)想象中的世界是一個更接近的場景：官僚主義、不可知，被不確定性以及恐懼所統(tǒng)治。