Market research firm IDC projected China’s public surveillance camera network will keep growing to see a total of 2.76 billion units installed nationwide by 2022, as the country quickens its pace in “smart cities” construction.
However, IDC warned that the huge and expanding camera network may pose a major threat to citizens’ privacy and even the national public security agency’s data networks, if it were to be illegally controlled.
By comparison, the United States is estimated to have about 30 million security cameras installed across all states.