We know who you are: China’s subways track commuters as security takes on a silent hi-tech face

Authorities are turning to technology to safeguard and streamline checks for the millions of passengers using underground networks around the country each day. But critics have raised privacy concerns and questioned the need for ever more controls in a society that already has an extensive public security system. — SCMP

On a winter weekday morning, 26-year-old cartoon designer Li Yining was shivering at a pedestrian bridge leading to a subway station on the outskirts of Beijing. He huddled in his black down jacket, browsing news on his mobile phone while slowly shuffling forward in a 20-metre (65-foot) line towards the station entrance.

“It’s totally a waste of time,” Li said, pointing to security guards nonchalantly waving metal detector wands over each passenger in the jammed station hall. Meanwhile, luggage, backpacks, handbags and all kinds of belongings were on a sluggish conveyor belt trundling through an X-ray machine.