Singapore patrol robots stoke fears of surveillance state

Singapore – Singapore has tested patrol robots that blast warnings at people engaging in "undesirable social behavior," adding to an arsenal of surveillance technology in the tightly controlled city-state that is fueling privacy concerns. From vast numbers of CCTV cameras to trials of lampposts kitted out with facial recognition tech, Singapore is seeing an explosion of tools to track its inhabitants. Officials have long pushed a vision of a hyper-efficient, tech-driven "smart nation," but activists say privacy is being sacrificed and people have little control over what happens to their data. Singapore is frequently criticized for curbing civil liberties and people are accustomed to tight controls, but there is still growing unease over intrusive tech. The government's latest surveillance devices are robots on wheels, with seven cameras, that issue warnings to the public and detect "undesirable social behavior."