When a cybersecurity researcher known by the pseudonym NetAskari recently clicked on a tab labeled "Inquiry for journalist files" on an unsecured Chinese web dashboard, he expected to see a jumble of auto-generated mock data.
Instead, familiar faces popped up on the screen. It was a comprehensive database of almost every foreign journalist based in Beijing around 2021, including official passport photos taken at the entry/exit bureau, private cellphone numbers, visa details and dates of birth. He also found his own exact personal information lying dormant on this Chinese police watch list.
"It was more interesting than shocking," NetAskari told DW. "When you work as a journalist in China, you basically assume you are always on their radar. But what surprised me was simply how easy it was to access this highly sensitive system."
China's granular system of social control
What NetAskari had stumbled upon is part modern China's emerging system of "holographic profiles."
