The Boundaries of Counterterrorism

Published in United Daily News
(Taiwan) on 3 May 2013
by Zhang Yousheng (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Christine Chou. Edited by Kyrstie Lane.
In 2017, because of Japan’s high crime rate, the parliament passes a DNA law that establishes a secret database called “Platinum Data” that contains the genetic information of all its country’s citizens. By comparing the strands of hair and bodily fluids left at crime scenes, the police can arrest and manage criminals with maximum efficiency.

The plot of the Japanese film “Platinum Data” closely resembles real life. In fact, the 2002 film “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise already envisioned the extreme limits of crime prevention: In 2054, in Washington, D.C., three individuals with the ability to predict the future enable police to arrest murderers before they act, thus eliminating crime completely.

After the Boston Marathon bombing, the clamor throughout the U.S. in support of installing more street surveillance equipment has increased. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that if the suspects had arrived in Times Square, they would have encountered an omnipresent network of surveillance cameras. Also known as the “dashboard,” the Domain Awareness System was developed by Microsoft for the New York Police Department. The project took three years to complete and cost $40 million.

Systematic analysis of images from the city’s more than 4,000 surveillance cameras, street view maps, arrest records, parking tickets and radiation detectors captures everything. What if the police need to find a suspect who is wearing a red shirt? No problem. The system can point out anyone wearing a red shirt in a crowd.

Bloomberg said that since 9/11, New York has experienced a total of 16 attempted attacks, all of which failed thanks to the system in place. Boston did not purchase this system, but the FBI has already invested $1 billion in Next Generation Identification, which will identify suspects. This large-scale biometric program can cross-compare crime scene photos of a suspect with a database of 12 million images.

Whether it is the recognition system in New York or Boston, the more powerful the system’s capabilities, the greater the chance of infringing upon human rights. President Obama has used violence against civilians as a reason to call the recent bombing a terrorist attack, potentially expanding the definition of the term.

If fighting terrorism commands unlimited means, then human rights will be difficult to protect.


二○一七年,日本犯罪率居高不下,國會通過所謂的「DNA法」,祕密成立名為「白金數據」的資料庫,建立全國人民的基因資料。透過比對留在案發現場的毛髮與體液等證物,警方能以最高效率緝凶與管理受刑人。

日本電影「白金數據:DNA連續殺人」,情節相當貼近現實生活。其實二○○二年,湯姆克魯斯主演的「關鍵報告」,已設想預防犯罪的極限:二○五四年的華府,三名擁有預知能力的「未來警察」讓謀殺犯著手前就被捕,讓犯罪消弭於無形。

波士頓馬拉松爆炸案發生後,全美主張增設街頭監視攝影器材的聲浪激增。紐約市長彭博宣稱,倘若嫌犯抵達時報廣場,必將遭遇鋪天蓋地的監視攝影網。別名為「儀表板」的「區域識別系統」由紐約市警局委託微軟研發,歷時三年,耗資四千萬美元。

系統分析來自全市四千多個監視攝影鏡頭的影像,街景地圖、逮捕紀錄、停車罰單,輻射偵測紀錄,一網打盡。警方要找穿紅色襯衫的嫌犯?沒問題,系統能指出人群中所有穿紅色襯衫的人。

彭博宣稱,自九一一事件後,紐約共遭遇十六件圖謀攻擊案,都被瓦解,全拜這套系統所賜。波士頓並未購置此一系統,但聯邦調查局憑著已投入十億美元研發的「新一代辨識系統」認出嫌犯。這套龐大的生物測定計畫,能交叉比對犯罪現場的照片與影像,資料庫有一千二百萬筆影像。

無論是紐約、還是波士頓的辨識系統,功能愈強大,侵害人權的可能性就愈高。歐巴馬以攻擊平民為由,將爆炸案定調為恐攻,無形中擴大了恐攻的定義範圍。

只是,反恐若無限上綱,人權就難保障了。
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