Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma has called on Chinese officials to use big data in its campaign to curb criminality, during a televised speech addressed to about 1.5 million Chinese security and legal officials on Friday, Oct. 21, a Bloomberg report said.
On Saturday, Oct. 22, the Chinese Communist Party's Commission for Political and Legal Affairs published Ma's speech on its WeChat account.
In his speech, Ma discussed the streamlining of police duties using big data and through data capabilities, he urged for the creation of a system similar to what authorities use in Spielberg's film, "Minority Report," where government has the ability to thwart illegal activities.
The Alibaba founder cited an example on how data can help authorities gather information and catch potential terrorists. He said that it could be an indication that a person may be a bomb maker if he buys a timer, a high-pressure cooker, gun powder, or steel ball bearings all at once.
But the surveillance activities of the Chinese government have adapted to technology, the report said. China released in July 2015 a proposed cybersecurity law that gives almost total access to users' data in cases involving national security.
Following that, the government also planned to deploy police officers in Internet companies to ensure the implementation of strict censorship laws.
By the end of 2015, the country's anti-terrorism law was passed, requiring telecommunication and Internet service providers to provide the government with "technical support and assistance", such as decryption, during investigations of terrorism-related cases.
Ma also raised question of what Alibaba would be willing to do when the time comes that the company was asked by government to share users' data.
Ma told the Wall Street Journal that it would comply with the law, which means that they will surrender information as required by law but they will not share users' data with government.
Ma's remarks raised concerns on the potential misuse and abuse of technology, the report said.
"Without some level of transparency and oversight and clear boundaries, I worry deeply for citizens' rights and the ability for this technology to be abused as simply another method to identify and monitor Chinese individuals who dare to not agree with authority figures," Jason Ng, a technology researcher with Citizen Lab, said.