Last week in class, we talked a few times about transparency, mainly the transparency of technology’s functions, and the safety of our technology. I have often thought about these topics, and I find myself wondering how much of what I do on technology is accessible to outside parties. I read an article that discusses an app, the most popular app in China, which offers a bleak image of technology’s hidden agendas. The app, created by the Chinese Communist party led by Xi Jinping, is called “Study the Great Nation.” The users are encouraged, and sometimes forced, to read articles and take quizzes. Those who know the most about Xi Jinping are then rewarded by earning a place on the leaderboard, increasing the level of competition among the app’s users.
Though the app is marketed as a somewhat innocent way for the citizens to “prove their loyalty and study their country,” the app seems to be doing just as much “studying” of the users. Especially when researchers began to look into the functions of the app, it became clear that the users had all granted the app unprecedented control over their device. The app has the ability to do a shocking amount of functions, including “allowing the app to access and take photos and videos, transmit the user’s location, activate audio recording…as well as retrieve information from 960 other applications.” A tech researcher, Adam Lynn, claims that it is “very uncommon for an application to require that level of access to the device, and there’s no reason to have these privileges unless you’re doing something you’re not supposed to be.”
Why would an app need these functions? Well, it allows Xi Jinping to achieve his goal: to “bolster the Communist Party’s ideological control over the Chinese population.” Because of this explicit goal of the technology, it relates to Langdon Winner’s piece on whether or not technology can be inherently political. In this case, yes, technology is clearly political–the Communist Party has very clear political goals that can be achieved with the help of authoritarian technology.