Beijing Should Scrap Its Dystopian Digital ID Push

Would you change your online habits if you knew everything you search, post and browse could be centrally monitored by the police? China, which already has some of the world’s tightest internet restrictions, is now seeking to take those a step further with its push for a nationwide digital identification system that will be jointly administered by its cyber regulators and the police.

The proposal is the latest blow to any lingering hopes for an open internet behind the Great Firewall. This should concern everyone, given Beijing has a history of using technology to oppress minority groups like the Uyghurs. But it also risks undermining the government’s own innovation ambitions while exposing to the world the fragility of its mass surveillance state. On both fronts, the Chinese people deserve better.