VICE (2013) s06e02 Episode Script
Battle for Jerusalem & A Face In The Crowd
1 ANNOUNCER: Really stunning news today about the number of rape cases police have never even tried to solve.
I had no clue people stockpiled rape kits.
MAN: I was shocked.
There was just racks in an abandoned warehouse, with windows open and birds flying around.
WOMAN: I could understand one city being negligent, but a nation? KYM WORTHY: We had to bring justice to these victims.
MARISKA HARGITAY: The rape kit backlog is the most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes.
WOMAN 2: There were rapists who were not caught.
And I can't understand what was so unimportant about me.
WOMAN 3: Every day we get another 20 to 30 hits.
WORTHY: Over 700 identified serial rapists.
Just in one city, in one county, in one state.
Of course we made mistakes.
We didn't realize the potential.
This is something where we can't rest.
WOMAN 4: You can't change or fix what happened to one person.
What you can change, is what might happen to someone else.
WOMAN 5: I am evidence that this is not just a kit.
This is a person.
SHANE SMITH: This week on Vice: Trump's move in Israel sparks outrage across the Middle East.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (CROWD CHEERING) GIANNA TOBONI: We're in Gaza on the Israeli border.
This is the day of rage.
There are thousands of young Palestinians protesting against Trump's announcement.
SHANE: And then, the rise of mass surveillance in China.
(WHISTLE TWEETS) ELLE REEVE: You cross the street against the light, cameras will take a picture of your face and then post it up there to embarrass you.
(XIE YINAN SPEAKING) (THEME MUSIC PLAYING) (GUNSHOT) (CROWD SHOUTING) Right now, it's time to change.
(CHEERING) In season two, we reported a story about how crucial Israel is to the American evangelical community.
Many evangelicals strongly believe that Israel and, more specifically, Jerusalem must be completely controlled by the Jewish people in order to trigger the Second Coming of Christ.
He is going to defeat the Antichrist, and we are going to crown Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
SHANE: Now, 80 percent of white evangelical voters supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
In return, President Trump has given his evangelical base exactly what they wanted.
It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Now, this announcement sparked controversy and outrage around the world, - but was especially contentious - (CROWDS SHOUTING) between Israel and Palestine.
So, we sent Gianna Toboni to see the real-world consequences of the president's actions.
(MAN CHANTING OVER PA) (MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Since Trump's announcement, Hamas and some of the other factions you can see their flags behind me have called for a day of rage, so this rally is kicking that off right now.
(WOMAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: This protest was just one of many that erupted across Israel and Palestine.
(CROWD CHANTING) (CROWD CHANTING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) (TEAR GAS GRENADES POPPING) (SIRENS BLARING) (POLICEMAN SHOUTING) (MAN SHOUTS) GIANNA: You can hear Israeli gunshots coming over.
A couple of kids have already been taken away in ambulances.
(SIREN BLARING) (GUNSHOT) (SHOUTING) (SIREN APPROACHING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) Can you explain what happened? (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Since Trump's announcement, more than 40 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed.
Congress ordered the embassy to be relocated back in 1995.
Every President since then has issued waivers delaying the move.
But President Trump had promised not to, and conservative Israelis were thrilled.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: While most of the world saw Trump's signing of the order as provoking a conflict, Prime Minister Netanyahu said it would actually defuse one.
I share President Trump's commitment to advancing peace between Israel and all of our neighbors, including the Palestinians.
GIANNA: We spoke to Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, who told us why the government is a hundred percent in support of the move.
Did the government know that this was coming? Had you been talking to them beforehand? Had you been asking them to do this? We encouraged the American administration to do it because we believed that it was something very positive.
This announcement actually should have taken place many, many years ago.
Jerusalem has been our capital since 1948.
That's almost 70 years, and I think that it's good and important that the president of the most important country in the world should actually acknowledge and recognize that this is our capital.
GIANNA: Not surprisingly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is strongly objecting to Trump's move.
Abbas is president of the Palestinian Authority and head of the Fatah party, but his grip on power is weakening.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Dr.
Hanan Ashrawi is a long-time Palestinian leader who's been instrumental in the peace process for more than 30 years.
How significant is President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital? This recognition by President Trump represents to us the epitome of irresponsibility, recklessness, and a position that has become a game-changer in the whole region.
He has undermined the stability and security, not just of Palestine, but of the region as a whole by provoking people's sentiments, people's feelings.
It has made the chances of peace much more difficult.
(MAN CHANTING OVER PA) GIANNA: That's because for centuries, Jerusalem has been a holy city for three of the world's major religions.
We're on a rooftop in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Right in front of me, you see this gold dome.
That's what Muslims refer to as Al Aqsa Mosque, and what Jews refer to as Temple Mount.
Muslims say that that's where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
And then you look right over here, and there are a series of churches.
And this church has the big gold cross on the top.
That's where Christians say Jesus resurrected.
Different religious communities have been coexisting here for centuries, which is part of why Trump's decision is so controversial not only here, but around the world.
Trump's move has made the peace process nearly impossible.
But efforts have been faltering for years, in part due to divisions between rival Palestinian parties the more moderate Fatah and the more hardline Hamas.
With the failure of the peace process to deliver, Hamas became stronger.
Now it demands to have a greater role.
Who is Fatah? Who is Hamas? HANAN: Fatah is the oldest party.
It started in the '60s.
It became the backbone of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Hamas is a newcomer.
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
But Hamas resorted to violence after it won, of course, elections.
(GUNFIRE) There were difficulties relinquishing power, and in Gaza, Hamas took over all the security offices by violence.
- (SHOUTING) - (GUNFIRE) HANAN: This rift has really weakened us.
Right now, this is a very crucial point.
GIANNA: Since this bloody conflict, Hamas has been largely confined to Gaza by Israeli forces, while Fatah controls the remaining Palestinian territories.
(HANIYEH SPEAKING) GIANNA: We're in Gaza City.
This is the 30th anniversary of Hamas.
This party is incredibly popular.
You look around, there are hundreds of thousands of people, many of them waving green Hamas flags.
People are very clearly not happy with Trump's latest move.
(HANIYEH SPEAKING) (CHEERS, APPLAUSE) Why do you support Hamas? (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (MEN SINGING) GIANNA: We got a bunch of kids in military uniforms carrying fake guns and a few flags.
You know, it's it's a family affair.
Can you tell me about your kids' outfits? (MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) - (SIRENS BLARING) - GIANNA: Hamas is no stranger to military force.
In their 30-year history, they've gone to war three times with Israel in Gaza, most recently in 2014.
The US considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
The group uses tunnels to smuggle weapons into Israel, and it's launched suicide bombings and rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
After the embassy announcement, rockets fired out of Gaza led to Israeli air strikes that killed two Gazans.
(CHATTERING) (WOMAN WAILING) GIANNA: Mahmoud Al-Zahar is one of the original founders of Hamas and remains a senior figure within the organization.
Just a few days ago, you said that "Hamas is here to prove to the whole world "that resistance is our only option, and we will continue until we reach Al Aqsa Mosque," which of course is in Jerusalem.
But realistically, how do you do it? I mean, there are massive concrete walls guarded by very powerful Israeli Defense Forces.
What is the relationship right now between Hamas and Fatah? GIANNA: That pro-resistance mentality is starting to rip Palestinians apart, and the friction has intensified as the nearly two million Palestinians living in Gaza are physically locked in by closed borders.
Meaning civilians in Gaza often can't get the necessities and medical care they need.
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) What will happen with your health if you aren't able to get out of Gaza to get that taken care of? (MAN TRANSLATES) GIANNA: Tensions have been growing as the PA has been leveraging the power they have over Gaza's resources against the people there.
(WOMAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: As Palestine's deepening political divisions increasingly impact daily life, the people there are desperate for reconciliation.
How would your life change if there was a true reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah? (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: But despite ongoing negotiations between Palestine's political factions, the acrimony only appears to be increasing.
In fact, in March of 2018, Hamas allegedly attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Hamdallah, and the group remain resolute in its stand against both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
One of the terms of the reconciliation is that Hamas put down their weapons.
No, no.
Is is that something you would ever consider? GIANNA: Although they remain divided, Palestinians are united in opposing Israel's complete control of Jerusalem.
As support for the two sparring parties is dropping, support for armed resistance is rising.
HANAN: The ramifications are enormous, and the consequences will have a ripple effect within the region and beyond.
Not only does it inflame sentiments, but it really provokes people, uh, to take action.
(MAHMOUD ABBAS SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (HANIYEH SPEAKING) (MAN SHOUTS) (CROWD SHOUTS) In our modern age, mass surveillance is now becoming the norm.
From local police using innovations in audio and video technology to track criminal activities, to more clandestine methods used to monitor the communication, movement, and lifestyle habits, of everyday citizens.
Every part of a private life today is found on someone's phone.
We used to say man's home is his castle.
Today, a man's phone is his castle.
SHANE: New advances in facial recognition technology are being paired with artificial intelligence and machine learning, so that today, cameras can not only immediately identify people with remarkable precision, but also log and track this data.
Elle Reeve traveled to China to see how this new technology is already being deployed and the unintended, or in some cases, intended consequences it might have for humanity going forward.
ELLE: China has the largest video surveillance network in the world and plans to expand it to more than 600 million cameras over the next two years.
With the rise in facial recognition and artificial intelligence, it feels more like someone is watching all those cameras at all times.
(CAMERA CLICKS) Hi, I'm Elle, I'm in China, and I just got busted for jaywalking with facial recognition technology.
Stations like this one are part of a new plan by the Chinese government to publicly shame citizens caught breaking the law.
If you cross the street against the light, cameras with facial recognition technology will take a picture of your face, cross-reference it with your government ID, and then post it up there to embarrass you.
But China isn't embracing facial recognition just to catch jaywalkers.
The technology is starting to appear just about anywhere you can imagine.
It helps make menu recommendations at your local fast-food spot.
You can also pay for your food with your face.
ELLE: It even curbs the waste of toilet paper at public bathrooms.
(DISPENSER SPEAKING CHINESE) My gift.
This is all I get for the next nine minutes.
Then I come back again and I try to get more? (DISPENSER BEEPS, SPEAKS CHINESE) ELLE: Chinese tech companies are now at the cutting edge of developing new and sophisticated ways to do video analysis.
Right now we're going to SenseTime, one of the biggest companies involved in developing that technology.
Oh, that's me.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) (LAUGHS) So you know when someone's late? (LAUGHS) ELLE: Yes! - (LAUGHS) ELLE: But despite all the goofy applications we were first shown, much of the tech SenseTime is developing has serious real-world implications.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) So it can track suspicious activity within a large crowd.
Are you ever bothered by having no anonymity because there are cameras watching all the time? ELLE: But the reach of this technology goes way beyond public areas and increasingly infiltrates private spaces as well.
We're going into a government housing complex.
Instead of doormen, they have security cameras with facial recognition technology, and we're gonna go see how it works.
(SUN YUHONG SPEAKING CHINESE) Ah.
(SUN YUHONG SPEAKING CHINESE) This is the number of visitors, this is all of the residents, and this is our most popular person with 142.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) How much more is your system doing that you're not allowed to show us? (LAUGHS) ELLE: In China, there are few protections limiting how much information the government can collect about its 1.
4 billion citizens.
Everyone over the age of 16 is required to have an official state-issued ID card that the government now wants to use to centralize all that information.
And China is investing heavily in tech companies to help transform that government data into a virtually omniscient surveillance network.
One of those companies is Megvii It recently received a capital investment of nearly half a billion dollars, part of which is from a state-run VC fund.
But the name chosen for its premiere piece of technology is a bit of a tell.
ELLE: Skynet? - Yes.
(LAUGHS) - What is that? ELLE: Uh-huh.
So, okay, in The Terminator, Skynet is evil, - rains down death from the sky.
- XIE YINAN: Yeah.
But in China, Skynet is good.
So, how do you think your facial recognition technology will change China? So, when it looks out onto a crowd, it's tracking all these faces, and it's cross-checking those faces against what? ELLE: And how many fugitives have been apprehended through this system? Wow.
In one year? Wow.
So, what you're working on now already seems like sci-fi.
What do you think the future will look like in, like, five years? But that's like a horror show.
(BOTH LAUGH) If you like spit gum on the sidewalk And your points will go down? ELLE: But that future isn't too far away.
Now China's government is testing a new social credit score system which would rank its citizens based on their online behavior.
ELLE: While it won't fully roll out until 2020, starting this year, China will ban people with a bad score from booking flights and train rides.
We spoke with a lawyer who represents clients considered to be untrustworthy by the communist government about what this could mean for the future of China.
What are the risks of this kind of program? (SPEAKING CHINESE) What do you think of the government's argument that a social credit system will create a meritocratic society? ELLE: But China isn't the only place experimenting with facial recognition applications.
An airport in the Middle East is already planning face-scanning aquariums at security checkpoints.
In Europe, state-sanctioned and private initiatives are testing this technology in multiple locations, from train stations to online classes.
And in the US, private companies are investing millions to secure government contracts, which could make machine learning and image recognition a regular part of police work.
Law professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson is a leading expert on big data policing.
He spoke to us about the ramifications that these technologies could present.
When you look at China's system of facial recognition and video surveillance, what do you see? I see the future and it scares me.
If you have the capability to identify people and patterns, and you can show association about where you go and why you're going there, it really will change the relationship between citizens and their governments.
In China, the government has heavily invested in these companies developing facial recognition technology.
In the US, it's still more in the private sector.
Can you explain the difference? ANDREW: So, much of the story of big data policing has been small startup companies or even sometimes the big tech companies that are pushing police to use new technologies.
One of the open questions is, "Who owns this data?" Take police body cams, right? Right now, there is sort of an arms race of people trying to sell police body cameras to police all across America.
All of that data from all of those officers is actually really valuable for other non-law enforcement purposes.
You're really capturing patterns of society.
And if the private companies can use that data for other things, even sell it for other reasons, they're gonna wanna profit.
Part of the reason why we've seen this move toward big data policing, is because it sounds like an objective move to sort of turn the page from some of the racial tension we've seen after Ferguson and after Baltimore, after Staten island, to something that sounds more objective.
"Don't worry.
This is data-driven.
" The problem is, the data comes from us.
And if you're not cautious about how you're collecting that information and then using it, you're just gonna reify the same biases.
So, how slippery is the slope we're standing on? How quickly could this be implemented here? The technology you see in China exists, it's working, and it can do the same thing here.
Right now, our sort of regulatory legislative action just isn't there.
We don't have protections to say it couldn't happen.
Young people growing up in America today are pretty used to being surveilled by their phones and their Facebooks and their Snapchats, and the rest.
We might have different constitutional protections, but it's still unsettled, and it's an open question about how we react, and I hope we start asking those questions to react now.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
I had no clue people stockpiled rape kits.
MAN: I was shocked.
There was just racks in an abandoned warehouse, with windows open and birds flying around.
WOMAN: I could understand one city being negligent, but a nation? KYM WORTHY: We had to bring justice to these victims.
MARISKA HARGITAY: The rape kit backlog is the most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes.
WOMAN 2: There were rapists who were not caught.
And I can't understand what was so unimportant about me.
WOMAN 3: Every day we get another 20 to 30 hits.
WORTHY: Over 700 identified serial rapists.
Just in one city, in one county, in one state.
Of course we made mistakes.
We didn't realize the potential.
This is something where we can't rest.
WOMAN 4: You can't change or fix what happened to one person.
What you can change, is what might happen to someone else.
WOMAN 5: I am evidence that this is not just a kit.
This is a person.
SHANE SMITH: This week on Vice: Trump's move in Israel sparks outrage across the Middle East.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (CROWD CHEERING) GIANNA TOBONI: We're in Gaza on the Israeli border.
This is the day of rage.
There are thousands of young Palestinians protesting against Trump's announcement.
SHANE: And then, the rise of mass surveillance in China.
(WHISTLE TWEETS) ELLE REEVE: You cross the street against the light, cameras will take a picture of your face and then post it up there to embarrass you.
(XIE YINAN SPEAKING) (THEME MUSIC PLAYING) (GUNSHOT) (CROWD SHOUTING) Right now, it's time to change.
(CHEERING) In season two, we reported a story about how crucial Israel is to the American evangelical community.
Many evangelicals strongly believe that Israel and, more specifically, Jerusalem must be completely controlled by the Jewish people in order to trigger the Second Coming of Christ.
He is going to defeat the Antichrist, and we are going to crown Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
SHANE: Now, 80 percent of white evangelical voters supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
In return, President Trump has given his evangelical base exactly what they wanted.
It is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Now, this announcement sparked controversy and outrage around the world, - but was especially contentious - (CROWDS SHOUTING) between Israel and Palestine.
So, we sent Gianna Toboni to see the real-world consequences of the president's actions.
(MAN CHANTING OVER PA) (MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Since Trump's announcement, Hamas and some of the other factions you can see their flags behind me have called for a day of rage, so this rally is kicking that off right now.
(WOMAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: This protest was just one of many that erupted across Israel and Palestine.
(CROWD CHANTING) (CROWD CHANTING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) (TEAR GAS GRENADES POPPING) (SIRENS BLARING) (POLICEMAN SHOUTING) (MAN SHOUTS) GIANNA: You can hear Israeli gunshots coming over.
A couple of kids have already been taken away in ambulances.
(SIREN BLARING) (GUNSHOT) (SHOUTING) (SIREN APPROACHING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) Can you explain what happened? (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Since Trump's announcement, more than 40 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed.
Congress ordered the embassy to be relocated back in 1995.
Every President since then has issued waivers delaying the move.
But President Trump had promised not to, and conservative Israelis were thrilled.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: While most of the world saw Trump's signing of the order as provoking a conflict, Prime Minister Netanyahu said it would actually defuse one.
I share President Trump's commitment to advancing peace between Israel and all of our neighbors, including the Palestinians.
GIANNA: We spoke to Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, who told us why the government is a hundred percent in support of the move.
Did the government know that this was coming? Had you been talking to them beforehand? Had you been asking them to do this? We encouraged the American administration to do it because we believed that it was something very positive.
This announcement actually should have taken place many, many years ago.
Jerusalem has been our capital since 1948.
That's almost 70 years, and I think that it's good and important that the president of the most important country in the world should actually acknowledge and recognize that this is our capital.
GIANNA: Not surprisingly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is strongly objecting to Trump's move.
Abbas is president of the Palestinian Authority and head of the Fatah party, but his grip on power is weakening.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: Dr.
Hanan Ashrawi is a long-time Palestinian leader who's been instrumental in the peace process for more than 30 years.
How significant is President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital? This recognition by President Trump represents to us the epitome of irresponsibility, recklessness, and a position that has become a game-changer in the whole region.
He has undermined the stability and security, not just of Palestine, but of the region as a whole by provoking people's sentiments, people's feelings.
It has made the chances of peace much more difficult.
(MAN CHANTING OVER PA) GIANNA: That's because for centuries, Jerusalem has been a holy city for three of the world's major religions.
We're on a rooftop in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Right in front of me, you see this gold dome.
That's what Muslims refer to as Al Aqsa Mosque, and what Jews refer to as Temple Mount.
Muslims say that that's where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
And then you look right over here, and there are a series of churches.
And this church has the big gold cross on the top.
That's where Christians say Jesus resurrected.
Different religious communities have been coexisting here for centuries, which is part of why Trump's decision is so controversial not only here, but around the world.
Trump's move has made the peace process nearly impossible.
But efforts have been faltering for years, in part due to divisions between rival Palestinian parties the more moderate Fatah and the more hardline Hamas.
With the failure of the peace process to deliver, Hamas became stronger.
Now it demands to have a greater role.
Who is Fatah? Who is Hamas? HANAN: Fatah is the oldest party.
It started in the '60s.
It became the backbone of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Hamas is a newcomer.
Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.
But Hamas resorted to violence after it won, of course, elections.
(GUNFIRE) There were difficulties relinquishing power, and in Gaza, Hamas took over all the security offices by violence.
- (SHOUTING) - (GUNFIRE) HANAN: This rift has really weakened us.
Right now, this is a very crucial point.
GIANNA: Since this bloody conflict, Hamas has been largely confined to Gaza by Israeli forces, while Fatah controls the remaining Palestinian territories.
(HANIYEH SPEAKING) GIANNA: We're in Gaza City.
This is the 30th anniversary of Hamas.
This party is incredibly popular.
You look around, there are hundreds of thousands of people, many of them waving green Hamas flags.
People are very clearly not happy with Trump's latest move.
(HANIYEH SPEAKING) (CHEERS, APPLAUSE) Why do you support Hamas? (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (ANNOUNCER SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (MEN SINGING) GIANNA: We got a bunch of kids in military uniforms carrying fake guns and a few flags.
You know, it's it's a family affair.
Can you tell me about your kids' outfits? (MAN SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) - (SIRENS BLARING) - GIANNA: Hamas is no stranger to military force.
In their 30-year history, they've gone to war three times with Israel in Gaza, most recently in 2014.
The US considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
The group uses tunnels to smuggle weapons into Israel, and it's launched suicide bombings and rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
After the embassy announcement, rockets fired out of Gaza led to Israeli air strikes that killed two Gazans.
(CHATTERING) (WOMAN WAILING) GIANNA: Mahmoud Al-Zahar is one of the original founders of Hamas and remains a senior figure within the organization.
Just a few days ago, you said that "Hamas is here to prove to the whole world "that resistance is our only option, and we will continue until we reach Al Aqsa Mosque," which of course is in Jerusalem.
But realistically, how do you do it? I mean, there are massive concrete walls guarded by very powerful Israeli Defense Forces.
What is the relationship right now between Hamas and Fatah? GIANNA: That pro-resistance mentality is starting to rip Palestinians apart, and the friction has intensified as the nearly two million Palestinians living in Gaza are physically locked in by closed borders.
Meaning civilians in Gaza often can't get the necessities and medical care they need.
(SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) What will happen with your health if you aren't able to get out of Gaza to get that taken care of? (MAN TRANSLATES) GIANNA: Tensions have been growing as the PA has been leveraging the power they have over Gaza's resources against the people there.
(WOMAN SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: As Palestine's deepening political divisions increasingly impact daily life, the people there are desperate for reconciliation.
How would your life change if there was a true reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah? (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GIANNA: But despite ongoing negotiations between Palestine's political factions, the acrimony only appears to be increasing.
In fact, in March of 2018, Hamas allegedly attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Hamdallah, and the group remain resolute in its stand against both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
One of the terms of the reconciliation is that Hamas put down their weapons.
No, no.
Is is that something you would ever consider? GIANNA: Although they remain divided, Palestinians are united in opposing Israel's complete control of Jerusalem.
As support for the two sparring parties is dropping, support for armed resistance is rising.
HANAN: The ramifications are enormous, and the consequences will have a ripple effect within the region and beyond.
Not only does it inflame sentiments, but it really provokes people, uh, to take action.
(MAHMOUD ABBAS SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) (HANIYEH SPEAKING) (MAN SHOUTS) (CROWD SHOUTS) In our modern age, mass surveillance is now becoming the norm.
From local police using innovations in audio and video technology to track criminal activities, to more clandestine methods used to monitor the communication, movement, and lifestyle habits, of everyday citizens.
Every part of a private life today is found on someone's phone.
We used to say man's home is his castle.
Today, a man's phone is his castle.
SHANE: New advances in facial recognition technology are being paired with artificial intelligence and machine learning, so that today, cameras can not only immediately identify people with remarkable precision, but also log and track this data.
Elle Reeve traveled to China to see how this new technology is already being deployed and the unintended, or in some cases, intended consequences it might have for humanity going forward.
ELLE: China has the largest video surveillance network in the world and plans to expand it to more than 600 million cameras over the next two years.
With the rise in facial recognition and artificial intelligence, it feels more like someone is watching all those cameras at all times.
(CAMERA CLICKS) Hi, I'm Elle, I'm in China, and I just got busted for jaywalking with facial recognition technology.
Stations like this one are part of a new plan by the Chinese government to publicly shame citizens caught breaking the law.
If you cross the street against the light, cameras with facial recognition technology will take a picture of your face, cross-reference it with your government ID, and then post it up there to embarrass you.
But China isn't embracing facial recognition just to catch jaywalkers.
The technology is starting to appear just about anywhere you can imagine.
It helps make menu recommendations at your local fast-food spot.
You can also pay for your food with your face.
ELLE: It even curbs the waste of toilet paper at public bathrooms.
(DISPENSER SPEAKING CHINESE) My gift.
This is all I get for the next nine minutes.
Then I come back again and I try to get more? (DISPENSER BEEPS, SPEAKS CHINESE) ELLE: Chinese tech companies are now at the cutting edge of developing new and sophisticated ways to do video analysis.
Right now we're going to SenseTime, one of the biggest companies involved in developing that technology.
Oh, that's me.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) (LAUGHS) So you know when someone's late? (LAUGHS) ELLE: Yes! - (LAUGHS) ELLE: But despite all the goofy applications we were first shown, much of the tech SenseTime is developing has serious real-world implications.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) So it can track suspicious activity within a large crowd.
Are you ever bothered by having no anonymity because there are cameras watching all the time? ELLE: But the reach of this technology goes way beyond public areas and increasingly infiltrates private spaces as well.
We're going into a government housing complex.
Instead of doormen, they have security cameras with facial recognition technology, and we're gonna go see how it works.
(SUN YUHONG SPEAKING CHINESE) Ah.
(SUN YUHONG SPEAKING CHINESE) This is the number of visitors, this is all of the residents, and this is our most popular person with 142.
(SPEAKING CHINESE) How much more is your system doing that you're not allowed to show us? (LAUGHS) ELLE: In China, there are few protections limiting how much information the government can collect about its 1.
4 billion citizens.
Everyone over the age of 16 is required to have an official state-issued ID card that the government now wants to use to centralize all that information.
And China is investing heavily in tech companies to help transform that government data into a virtually omniscient surveillance network.
One of those companies is Megvii It recently received a capital investment of nearly half a billion dollars, part of which is from a state-run VC fund.
But the name chosen for its premiere piece of technology is a bit of a tell.
ELLE: Skynet? - Yes.
(LAUGHS) - What is that? ELLE: Uh-huh.
So, okay, in The Terminator, Skynet is evil, - rains down death from the sky.
- XIE YINAN: Yeah.
But in China, Skynet is good.
So, how do you think your facial recognition technology will change China? So, when it looks out onto a crowd, it's tracking all these faces, and it's cross-checking those faces against what? ELLE: And how many fugitives have been apprehended through this system? Wow.
In one year? Wow.
So, what you're working on now already seems like sci-fi.
What do you think the future will look like in, like, five years? But that's like a horror show.
(BOTH LAUGH) If you like spit gum on the sidewalk And your points will go down? ELLE: But that future isn't too far away.
Now China's government is testing a new social credit score system which would rank its citizens based on their online behavior.
ELLE: While it won't fully roll out until 2020, starting this year, China will ban people with a bad score from booking flights and train rides.
We spoke with a lawyer who represents clients considered to be untrustworthy by the communist government about what this could mean for the future of China.
What are the risks of this kind of program? (SPEAKING CHINESE) What do you think of the government's argument that a social credit system will create a meritocratic society? ELLE: But China isn't the only place experimenting with facial recognition applications.
An airport in the Middle East is already planning face-scanning aquariums at security checkpoints.
In Europe, state-sanctioned and private initiatives are testing this technology in multiple locations, from train stations to online classes.
And in the US, private companies are investing millions to secure government contracts, which could make machine learning and image recognition a regular part of police work.
Law professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson is a leading expert on big data policing.
He spoke to us about the ramifications that these technologies could present.
When you look at China's system of facial recognition and video surveillance, what do you see? I see the future and it scares me.
If you have the capability to identify people and patterns, and you can show association about where you go and why you're going there, it really will change the relationship between citizens and their governments.
In China, the government has heavily invested in these companies developing facial recognition technology.
In the US, it's still more in the private sector.
Can you explain the difference? ANDREW: So, much of the story of big data policing has been small startup companies or even sometimes the big tech companies that are pushing police to use new technologies.
One of the open questions is, "Who owns this data?" Take police body cams, right? Right now, there is sort of an arms race of people trying to sell police body cameras to police all across America.
All of that data from all of those officers is actually really valuable for other non-law enforcement purposes.
You're really capturing patterns of society.
And if the private companies can use that data for other things, even sell it for other reasons, they're gonna wanna profit.
Part of the reason why we've seen this move toward big data policing, is because it sounds like an objective move to sort of turn the page from some of the racial tension we've seen after Ferguson and after Baltimore, after Staten island, to something that sounds more objective.
"Don't worry.
This is data-driven.
" The problem is, the data comes from us.
And if you're not cautious about how you're collecting that information and then using it, you're just gonna reify the same biases.
So, how slippery is the slope we're standing on? How quickly could this be implemented here? The technology you see in China exists, it's working, and it can do the same thing here.
Right now, our sort of regulatory legislative action just isn't there.
We don't have protections to say it couldn't happen.
Young people growing up in America today are pretty used to being surveilled by their phones and their Facebooks and their Snapchats, and the rest.
We might have different constitutional protections, but it's still unsettled, and it's an open question about how we react, and I hope we start asking those questions to react now.
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