---
title: "China Is Installing Surveillance Cameras Inside People’s Homes"
description: "In order to make sure people exposed to the coronavirus are obeying lockdown orders, Chinese authorities have been installing security cameras aimed directly at people’s doors. Sometimes, the cameras even end up inside their homes. Various Chinese provinces have been installing the cameras over the past two months, CNN reports. By doing so, […]"
date: "2020-04-28"
modified: "2020-04-28"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-installing-surveillance-cameras-inside-peoples-homes"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "china"
  - "coronavirus"
  - "surveillance"
  - "the digest"
---

# China Is Installing Surveillance Cameras Inside People’s Homes

![In order to enforce its lockdown measures, China has been installing surveillance cameras aimed directly at people's front doors or inside their homes.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/china-installing-surveillance-cameras-inside-peoples-homes.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Image via Pxhere/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Personalized Surveillance

In order to make sure people exposed to the coronavirus are obeying lockdown orders, Chinese authorities have been installing security cameras aimed directly at residents' doors — and, sometimes, inside their homes.

Various Chinese provinces have been installing the cameras over the past two months, *[CNN ](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/asia/cctv-cameras-china-hnk-intl/index.html>)*[reports](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/asia/cctv-cameras-china-hnk-intl/index.html>). By doing so, they're effectively expanding the country's already [massive surveillance network](<https://futurism.com/china-emotional-surveillance>) to include 24-hour feeds of residents during intimate moments.

## Digital Health Code

China has already digitized much of its pandemic response [with an app](<https://futurism.com/contact-tracing-apps-china-coronavirus>) that informs people if they were exposed to sick people and whether they need to go into isolation.

Now, *CNN* reports that officials justify the invasive new cameras as a way to further automate the process. According to a [February post](<https://www.weibo.com/5036338080/Iuu11AONS?type=comment#_rnd1587869097323>) on Weibo, the government of Nanjing described the cameras as something that "helped save personnel expenditures and increased work efficiency."

## Honest Thoughts

Based on social media posts and personal accounts, *CNN* reports a mixed response among the populace, though it's hard to get a real feeler since China heavily [censors critical social media](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/china-censored-wuhan-doctor-caught-the-coronavirus>) posts.

But some clearly hate the move, like Beijing resident Ian Lahiffe, who told *CNN* that the cameras are "an incredible erosion of privacy."

"It just seems to be a massive data grab," Lahiffe added. "And I don't know how much of it is actually legal."

**READ MORE:** [China is installing surveillance cameras outside people's front doors ... and sometimes inside their homes](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/asia/cctv-cameras-china-hnk-intl/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on surveillance:** *[Chinese Surveillance Is Literally Getting in Workers’ Heads](<https://futurism.com/china-emotional-surveillance>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)