China wants more control of mass surveillance system

China's massive surveillance state is well known. Public spaces are blanketed with CCTV cameras that record details like clothing, gender, age, and even ethnicity. Many of those cameras are powered by facial recognition technology to identify individuals on police blacklists. Citizens' movements are monitored, dissidents are easily tracked, and protests and strikes are snuffed out before they can gain momentum. Now Beijing wants to rein in some of the more unruly elements of its mass surveillance system. Advertisement A document published this week by the State Council, China's cabinet, called for "the clean up and standardization of law enforcement electronic…