The world's biggest surveillance company you've never heard of:
For example, the research found 55,455 Hikvision networks in London. "From my experience of just walking around London, it would probably be several times over that. They're in almost every supermarket," says Samuel Woodhams, a researcher at Top10VPN who carried out the study.
The prevalence of Hikvision cameras overseas has caused anxieties around national security, even though it hasn't been proved that the company transfers its overseas data back to China. In 2019, the US passed a bill banning Hikvision from holding any contracts with the federal government.
What really made Hikvision infamous on the global stage was its involvement in China's oppressive policies in Xinjiang against Muslim minorities, mostly Uyghurs. Numerous surveillance cameras, many equipped with advanced facial recognition, have been installed both inside and outside the detention camps in Xinjiang to aid the government's control over the region. And Hikvision has been a big part of this activity. The company was found to have received at least $275 million in government contracts to build surveillance in the region and has developed AI cameras that can detect physical features of Uyghur ethnicity.
Presented with questions about Xinjiang by MIT Technology Review, Hikvision responded with a statement that did not address them directly but said the company "has and will continue to strictly comply with applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate, following internationally accepted business ethics and business standards."
Adding Hikvision to the SDN (Specially Designated Nationals List) would do more than ratchet up tensions between the US and China—it would open up a new front in international sanctions, one in which tech companies increasingly find themselves embroiled in geopolitical power struggles.
Related Stories
MPs call for ban on Chinese surveillance camera technology:
A cross-party group of MPs has called on the government to ban the sale and operation of CCTV surveillance cameras linked to human rights abuses in China.
Surveillance cameras supplied by Chinese manufacturers Hikvision and Dahua are widely used in state "re-education" camps, which have been accused of subjecting Uyghur Muslims to forced labour and torture.
The cameras have been banned in the US, but are widely used in the UK across government departments and companies.
[...] They also called on the government to commission an independent national review of the scale, capabilities, ethics and human rights impact of modern CCTV in the UK.
[...] "This technology comes equipped with advanced surveillance capabilities, such as facial recognition, person tracking and gender identification," he said. "These pose a significant threat to civil liberties in our countries.
"These companies, Hikvision and Dahua, are Chinese state-owned companies, raising urgent questions over whether they also pose a threat to national security."
The MPs' call to action follows research by campaign group Big Brother Watch that found the cameras have been widely deployed by government bodies including councils, secondary schools, NHS trusts, universities and police forces in the UK.
[...] The campaign group said the Chinese companies supply rebranded cameras that are sold under other names, including Honeywell and Toshima, so that the true number of Hikvision and Dahua cameras used in the UK public sector may be significantly higher.
Previously: The World's Biggest Surveillance Company You've Never Heard of
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @02:05PM
What more evidence do you need that their plan is to spy on us 'Muricans??? It's right there in the name!!!
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 24 2022, @03:50PM (2 children)
Called power and money >> ethics.
True practically everywhere you go. The only differences are - who has the power and who has the money...
Don't get me wrong, I'd normally try to be ethical but if a Gov points guns at me and offers me money to do stuff, I might go help them spy on Uyghurs. Good old carrot and stick has worked for as long as there were carrots and sticks.
Especially when I know that if the muslim extremists get in power they'd do similar things to me too except they might point the guns at me and take my money: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizya [wikipedia.org]
If you think the muslim extremists won't do that you haven't been paying attention for centuries.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Friday June 24 2022, @11:12PM
>If you think the muslim extremists won't do that you haven't been paying attention for centuries.
I could say the same for American extremists (especially cops)
If you let the behavior of the [Group X] extremists dictate how you treat the normal people in that group - then the only logical conclusion is to treat everyone in every group like criminals.
(Score: 2) by jb on Saturday June 25 2022, @05:32AM
I'm confused. How does one right-shift by an abstract noun?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 25 2022, @08:27AM
"Chen, take this surveillance camera and equip it with advanced facial recognition!"
"Yes sir! Ahm, sir, what's an advanced facial recognition?"
"The one that recognizes Uyghurs most of the time, not only sometimes, stupid."
"I will need many more pictures of cats and dogs, ehm, Uyghurs and non-Uyghurs, to do that, sir."
"Chen, exactly how many is many more pictures?"
"(most_times / sometimes) * pictures_we_already_have * tensorflow_coefficient_of_artiligent_inefficiency, sir".
"What's that coeffcient Chen?"
"Oh, nobody knows sir. Everybody's just guessing and throwing in words like advanced and intelligent for marketing. You know, people buy worthless shit just like so".
"OK Chen, I'm sure it'll work. Here is $275 million".