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> Singapore was one example, recall three former intelligence officials. By the early 2000s, the agency ceased running certain types of operations in the Southe

> Singapore was one example, recall three former intelligence officials. By the early 2000s, the agency ceased running certain types of operations in the Southeast Asian city-state, because of the sweeping digital surveillance there. The Singaporeans had developed a database that incorporated real-time flight, customs, hotel and taxicab data. If it took too long for a traveler to get from the airport to a hotel in a taxi, the anomaly would trigger an alert in Singaporean security systems. “If there was a gap, they’d go to the hotel, they could flip on the TVs and phones and monitor what was going on” in the room of the suspicious traveler, says the same former senior intelligence official. “They had everything so wired.” Tbf Singapore is a city state and integrating surveillance infrastructure on a smaller scale is easier, but that's still pretty impressive.

dickjocke 7y ago
Yes, but this was also 15-20 years ago. Plus most people live and work in cities. I'm sure that every western or industrialized country has these capabilities in their major cities now.
throwawayeee 7y ago
Anecdote: one time I was visiting a friend in Singapore, they were busy when I arrived so I loitered around their apartment building's elevators for a bit, waiting for them to finish so they could push the intercom button to send me up. I tried the fire entrances, but they were all locked. Anyway, later that evening, some people from the government came to my friend's apartment and demanded to be let in. They demanded ID of everyone in there, including myself, as well as my address, and also checked my friend's lease. They even barged in on my friend's roommate who was showering. To this day I've got no idea why it happened. Singapore may be very modern, but deep down the government is still very authoritarian. Funnily enough, I lived in mainland China for a couple years but never experienced anything like that there.
- dillonmckay 7y ago
  Did you have chewing gum on you, too?
- fiblye 7y ago
  > Singapore may be very modern, but deep down the government is still very authoritarian. Those two really have no relation to each other, though.
  - jldugger 7y ago
    Or more depressingly, maybe they do.
gruez 7y ago
>By the early 2000s, the agency ceased running certain types of operations [...] The Singaporeans had developed a database that incorporated real-time flight, customs, hotel and taxicab data. If it took too long for a traveler to get from the airport to a hotel in a taxi, the anomaly would trigger an alert in Singaporean security systems I don't get it. Why don't the agents act normal until after they got to the hotel?
- sgc 7y ago
  I'm sure they did, but that is just one example.
- refurb 7y ago
  My thoughts exactly. Don’t agents try and blend in by keeping a unremarkable profile? Once you’ve arrived your schedule can be anything you want.
- PhilWright 7y ago
  Later in the article it points out that an undercover person would arrive on a passport under a name but then check into a hotel under a different name. In that case it would trigger the alert that the passport name never arrived at a hotel. It also says that the practice had to change so that an undercover person used only a single persona for a country instead of having multiple personas and switching between them.
Jerry2 7y ago
William Gibson (yes, that William Gibson) wrote an article about Singapore and the authoritarianism way back in 1993 [1]. He called it "Disneyland with the Death Penalty". WIRED mag ended up getting banned for a while after that article [2]. I guess things got a lot more dystopian since then. [1] https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ [2] https://www.wired.com/2012/04/opinion-jeyaretnam-disneyland-death-penalty/ https://www.wired.com/2012/04/opinion-jeyaretnam-disneyland-...

dickjocke 7y ago

Yes, but this was also 15-20 years ago. Plus most people live and work in cities. I'm sure that every western or industrialized country has these capabilities in their major cities now.

throwawayeee 7y ago

Anecdote: one time I was visiting a friend in Singapore, they were busy when I arrived so I loitered around their apartment building's elevators for a bit, waiting for them to finish so they could push the intercom button to send me up. I tried the fire entrances, but they were all locked. Anyway, later that evening, some people from the government came to my friend's apartment and demanded to be let in. They demanded ID of everyone in there, including myself, as well as my address, and also checked my friend's lease. They even barged in on my friend's roommate who was showering. To this day I've got no idea why it happened. Singapore may be very modern, but deep down the government is still very authoritarian. Funnily enough, I lived in mainland China for a couple years but never experienced anything like that there.

dillonmckay 7y ago
Did you have chewing gum on you, too?
fiblye 7y ago
> Singapore may be very modern, but deep down the government is still very authoritarian. Those two really have no relation to each other, though.
- jldugger 7y ago
  Or more depressingly, maybe they do.

gruez 7y ago

>By the early 2000s, the agency ceased running certain types of operations [...] The Singaporeans had developed a database that incorporated real-time flight, customs, hotel and taxicab data. If it took too long for a traveler to get from the airport to a hotel in a taxi, the anomaly would trigger an alert in Singaporean security systems I don't get it. Why don't the agents act normal until after they got to the hotel?

sgc 7y ago
I'm sure they did, but that is just one example.
refurb 7y ago
My thoughts exactly. Don’t agents try and blend in by keeping a unremarkable profile? Once you’ve arrived your schedule can be anything you want.
PhilWright 7y ago
Later in the article it points out that an undercover person would arrive on a passport under a name but then check into a hotel under a different name. In that case it would trigger the alert that the passport name never arrived at a hotel. It also says that the practice had to change so that an undercover person used only a single persona for a country instead of having multiple personas and switching between them.

Jerry2 7y ago

William Gibson (yes, that William Gibson) wrote an article about Singapore and the authoritarianism way back in 1993 [1]. He called it "Disneyland with the Death Penalty". WIRED mag ended up getting banned for a while after that article [2]. I guess things got a lot more dystopian since then. [1] https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ [2] https://www.wired.com/2012/04/opinion-jeyaretnam-disneyland-death-penalty/ https://www.wired.com/2012/04/opinion-jeyaretnam-disneyland-...