XINJIANG, CHINA — China is using big data to target ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, detaining them on the basis that they may someday threaten the government.

Human Rights Watch reports that Beijing has been using surveillance cameras with facial recognition technology, wifi sniffers, and police checkpoints to monitor the country's Uyghur population.

Data from these sources, as well as existing health, banking and other records, feeds into the Integrated Joint Operations Platform, a system that uses predictive policing to flag down potential threats.

Authorities personally visit flagged individuals and gather more information about their families and ideological situation, but can take into custody anyone deemed suspicious, whether or not they've committed a crime.

Most detainees are sent to political education centers, where they are reportedly indoctrinated in Chinese socialist ideology.

Reports estimate that roughly 120,000 people are being held indefinitely, without charge or trial, inside the camps.