Government listening to drivers, passengers in cars

Eavesdropping equipment installed in thousands of vehicles

Posted: June 21, 2011
7:42 pm Eastern
© 2011 WND
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Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.


Apple Daily's diagram of listening device

The Chinese government has installed eavesdropping equipment in up to 20,000 cars in Hong Kong, and another 10,000 trucks and buses, and already has documented their extraordinary accuracy in stopping vehicles linked to a smuggling ring, a published report confirms in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The Chinese newspaper Apple Daily, which has established an anti-establishment reputation in China, reported the eavesdropping procedures and released a photograph identifying the components it claims are used to listen to conversations inside vehicles.

The cars are those licensed in both China and Hong Kong.

The Chinese claim that the devices are "just for inspection."

Hong Kong is one of two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. Under the principle of "one country, two systems," Hong Kong has had a quasi-independent governing system, but Beijing always has looked upon Hong Kong with suspicion and has tried to closely monitor activities there.

The article revealed that the Chinese have been installing the spying devices on vehicles for years, creating, in effect, a large eavesdropping network across the region.

The government explanation is that the devices were installed merely as "inspection and quarantine" cards for the convenience of the drivers of the vehicles. The program of putting the listening devices on the vehicles free of charge began in July 2007, and all vehicles that had both Chinese and Hong Kong license plates had the bugs. It has been estimated that in addition to the 20,000 cars having the devices, another 10,000 trucks and buses have been compromised as well.

First to expose the secret listening devices were smugglers based out of Hong Kong. The newspaper reported they noted that their trucks and cars were being seized by Chinese authorities at an unusually high rate.

As one anonymous smuggler reported, "For every 10 cars we ran we only had [smuggled goods] in three or four to reduce the risk, but the border agents caught all of them. The accuracy was unreal!"

The device is about the size of a SmartPass, a technology now employed in many areas of the United States to allow drivers to quickly pay tolls and parking fees without having to stop and pay.

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