Beijing police has begun to investigate all the surveillance cameras within the city in an effort to regulate their use.

People's Daily reports that individuals who use the surveillance cameras illegally will be fined up to RMB1000 and businesses that do illegal things with the cameras shall be fined up to RMB30000. Perhaps invasion of privacy is included in that list of illegal items, but there is no word yet what could be construed as illegal.

The police will focus on checking camera systems that have been installed illegally, including but not limited to installations without a certificate, and order those illegal cameras to be removed from public venues. It is expected that by 2009 all the surveillance cameras in Beijing shall have image storage and image definition features so that they can be helpful to prosecuting criminal cases.

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