Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance Capabilities are Growing at a Shocking Speed

Today’s mass surveillance technology is capable to capture indiscriminately faces from crowd and transfer images to C5I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Collaboration, and Intelligence) center, allocate images into database with metadata included (time, location, gender, age, visual characteristics tagging), analyze them against target database and identify person of interest (POI) within 25 seconds.

Saudi Arabia is known for indiscriminate use of mass surveillance on unprecedented scale, especially in Hajj period. The risk factor pushes Saudi government to bolster already record high mass surveillance spending, says a recent analysis of the Saudi Arabia mass surveillance market. There is an opinion that a wave of recent high profile anti-corruption arrests has been a final phase of a wide scale high-tech surveillance program personally initiated by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud to ensure consolidation of power by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmanand and targeting his opposition. Here is a fresh eveidence of booming video surveillance market in Saudi Arabia – CohuHD Costar Awarded US$2.4 Million Surveillance Video Camera Contract for Major Critical Infrastructure Project in Saudi Arabia.