China has announced its plan to track people through their mobile phones to tackle traffic problems.
The tracking system will be tested in Beijing. The announcement was posted on a government website.
The technology, which was developed with the help of the Beijing Science & Technology Commission, would work by tracking the movements of the users of China Mobile, the state telecommunications carrier of China. There are more than 17 million users of the company in the capital.
The government has said the move is intended to tackle Beijing’s growing traffic problem. Users will be able to sign up and receive data from the system, the notice said. But privacy features and whether it is possible for users to opt out of the system is unclear.
A spokeswoman for China Mobile could not immediately respond.
