Chinese inspired technology will soon be used to track what Australians are browsing on their phone, where they're going and if they're involved in criminal behaviour.

This year, Darwin council will install the new 'Smart technology', which uses facial recognition to implement 'virtual fences' across the city.

The 'virtual fences' have the ability to instantly trigger an alert to the council if boundaries are crossed, such as a criminal entering an area they are not allowed to be in.

According to NT News, the technology originated in Shenzhen, in China's south-east, and created a social credit system, allowing people to earn or lose points based on their behaviour.

Technology from the Chinese government is going to be adopted in Australia to gather data on what people are doing on their phones (stock image)

While it's not yet known whether the social credit system will be implemented in Australia, people living in China have been given 'scores' based on how they live their life.

The national system was designed to promote better individual behaviour and has already seen more than 7 million people banned from boarding flights.

Others have been branded as 'dishonest', preventing them from buying a house, taking a holiday or sending their children to private schools.

People can earn points for acts such as donating blood and completing volunteer work, and lose points for disobeying laws, regulations and social norms.

General Manager for Darwin Council's Innovation, Growth and Development Services Josh Sattler said the technology will be used in Australia to track where people are and what technology they use.

Poles will be set up across the city, equipped with speakers, cameras and Wi-Fi, allowing council to collect information such as how many people walk on footpaths and what websites and apps they visit in certain areas of the city.

'The artificial intelligence program will be watching, we won't be,' Mr Sattler said.

'We'll be getting sent an alarm saying 'there's a person in this area that you've put a virtual fence around' … boom an alert goes out to whatever authority, whether it's us or police to say 'look at camera five'.'

Darwin council has plans to install the new 'Smart technology' that will put up 'virtual fences' across the city, triggering the government if boundaries are crossed (stock image)

The CCTV cameras were rolled out before April 25, with the rest of the technology expected to be set up before the end of the financial year.

Darwin is the first city in Australia willing to test out the technology.

Mr Sattler said the data will help the city's council make informed decisions that will benefit the community.

'We can let businesses know "hey, 80 per cent of people actually use Instagram within this area of the city, between these hours",' Mr Sattler said.

While there are expected benefits to the technology, Law lecturer from Charles Darwin University Dr Jenny Ng says it's only fair to warn people the public Wi-Fi is less secure than personal Wi-Fi.