Singapore has put robots to patrol the streets and worries about the violation of privacy and individual freedoms | Intrusive surveillance systems advance

Singapore tested a few patrol robots They are sending warnings to those involved in “unwanted social behavior,” increasing the arsenal of surveillance technology in this tightly controlled city-state.

From the large number of cameras to streetlights equipped with facial recognition technology currently on trial, Singapore has seen an explosion of tools to monitor its residents.

Authorities have advanced their vision of a hyper-efficient, technological “smart nation,” but campaigners say privacy has been sacrificed and people have little control over what is done with their data.

Singapore has come under fire for restricting civil liberties and its people have grown accustomed to strict controls, but there are growing concerns about intrusive technologies.

The most recent monitoring devices are the wheeled robots with seven cameras, which send warnings to the public and detect “unwanted social behavior”.

This includes smoking in no-go areas, improperly parking bicycles, or violating coronavirus approach rules.

During a recent patrol, one of the “Xavier” robots entered a residential area and stopped in front of a group of elderly people watching a game of chess.

“Please keep a meter distance,” “Please stick to five people per group,” warned a robotic voice, as a camera from the device focused on them.

During a three-month test in September, two robots were sent to patrol this residential area and a shopping mall.

“It reminds me of Robocop,” said Frannie Teo, a 34-year-old research assistant who strolled through the mall. It reminds me of “a dystopian world of robots … I’m a little hesitant about this kind of concept,” she added.

Lee Yi Ting, a digital rights activist, said gadgets were the latest means of monitoring Singaporeans. “All of this contributes to the feeling that people should be careful about what they say and do in Singapore., more than they would in other countries, “he told AFP.

But the government defends the use of robots, saying during the testing phase they will not be able to identify or take action against those who commit infractions, and that they are needed to address the shortage of workers in the face of aging. population.

“The workforce is shrinking,” said Ong Ka Hing of the government agency that developed the Xavier robots. He added that they could help reduce the number of officers required to patrol the streets.

Singapore, a controlled island

The island of 5.5 million people has 90,000 police cameras, and the idea is to double that number by 2030, while deploying city-wide facial recognition technology that helps police authorities to distinguish faces in the crowd.

This year, there were signs of public rejection when authorities admitted police had access to information on COVID-19 cases collected by an official system.

The government subsequently passed laws to limit its use.

But critics say city-state laws often limit government surveillance little and Singaporeans have little control over what happens to the data they collect.

“There are no privacy laws that restrict what government can and cannot do,” said Indulekshmi Rajeswari, a Singaporean privacy lawyer currently based in Germany. .

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