'In Xinjiang, Even Everyday Acts Are Suspicious'

Mainland authorities are using a mobile app designed for mass surveillance to profile, investigate and detain Muslims in Xinjiang by labelling "completely lawful" behaviour as suspicious, a Human Rights Watch report said on Thursday.

Human Rights Watch has previously reported that Xinjiang authorities use a mass surveillance system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) to gather information from multiple sources, such as facial-recognition cameras, Wi-Fi sniffers, police checkpoints, banking records and home visits.

But the new study, entitled "China's Algorithms of Repression", worked with a Berlin-based security company to analyse an app connected to the IJOP, showing specific acts targeted by the system.

Xinjiang authorities closely watch 36 categories of behaviour, including those who do not socialise with neighbours, often avoid using the front door, don't use a smartphone, donate to mosques "enthusiastically", and use an "abnormal" amount of electricity, the group found.

The app also instructs officers to investigate those related to someone who got a new phone number, or related to others who left the country and have not returned after 30 days.

"Our research shows, for the first time, that Xinjiang police are using illegally gathered information about people's completely lawful behaviour – and using it against them," said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"The Chinese government is monitoring every aspect of people's lives in Xinjiang, picking out those it mistrusts, and subjecting them to extra scrutiny."

The rights group obtained a copy of the app and enlisted cybersecurity firm Cure53 to "reverse-engineer" it – to disassemble it and look at its design and data – and examined its source code.

Along with collecting personal information the app prompts officials to file reports about people, vehicles and events they find suspect – and sends out "investigative missions" for police to follow up.

Officers are also asked to check whether suspects use any of the 51 internet tools that are deemed suspicious, including foreign messaging platforms popular outside China like WhatsApp, LINE and Telegram.

A number of people said they or their family members have been detained for having software such as WhatsApp or a Virtual Private Network (VPN) installed on their phones during checks by authorities, according to the report.

The rights group said its findings suggest the IJOP system tracks data of everyone in Xinjiang by monitoring location data from their phones, ID cards and vehicles, plus electricity and gas station usage.

"Psychologically, the more people are sure that their actions are monitored and that they, at anytime, can be judged for moving outside of a safe grey-space, the more likely they are to do everything to avoid coming close to crossing a moving red- line," said Samantha Hoffman, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy Centre.

"There is no rule of law in China, the Party ultimately decides what is legal and illegal behaviour, and it doesn't have to be written down."

The IJOP app was developed by Hebei Far East Communication System Engineering Company (HBFEC), which at the time of the app's development was fully-owned by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, a state-owned technology giant (CETC), said Human Rights Watch.

CETC could not be reached and HBFEC did not respond to requests for comment. (AFP)