The Chinese government has said that from 2019, all new cars in the country must be equipped with RFID chips. Writes about this The Verge with reference to The Wall Street Journal.
The relevant program is being prepared by the Ministry of Public Security of China and the Traffic Control Research Institute. RFID tags attached to the windshields of cars will be read by special devices installed along the roads. Unlike GPS trackers, such tags do not provide the ability to track vehicles constantly in real time, but allow you to control their movement. According to representatives of the Chinese authorities, this is necessary due to the threat of terrorism in the country.
The government also claims that RFID tags are needed to monitor traffic: by optimizing traffic and getting rid of congestion, they hope to reduce emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. From July 1, 2018, car owners will be able to apply RFID tags on a voluntary basis, and from 2019 this requirement will become mandatory.
Human rights activists are confident that the real goal of the introduction of RFID chips is to increase the surveillance of the country's residents. Senior Vice President of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, James Andrew Lewis, recalled that China already has a so-called social credit system, numerous facial recognition programs and tight controls on the Internet, and RFID tracking of cars will help the government better control the movement of citizens.
