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Contents:
On November 24, 2022, the UK Parliament decided the ban from sensitive government sites of all surveillance equipment provided by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China.
The decision is motivated by the possibility that Chinese-manufactured cameras are collecting data for the Chinese authorities, being a serious security threat. This law is an attempt to bring more safety to the staff, data, assets, and estate from important government locations.
Details About the Decision
The National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China mandates that Chinese citizens and organizations work with the country’s intelligence and security services. Hikvision, a leading Chinese surveillance company, and manufacturer of cameras installed on government estate, is subject to this law.
Departments have therefore been instructed to cease deployment of such equipment onto sensitive sites, where it is produced by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China. Since security considerations are always paramount around these sites, we are taking action now to prevent any security risks materializing.
Agencies are also encouraged to not connect this type of devices to the main network and to remove Hikvision cameras as soon as possible, even before scheduled updates.
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee first brought up this subject months ago when allegations about Hikvision and Dahua, another Chinese surveillance devices manufacturer, involvement in human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang emerged.
Why the Ban
“Experts shared a common concern that cameras by companies like Hikvision in the UK collect facial recognition data and can then be used by the Chinese government”, according to Cybernews.
The Big Brother Watch, an NGO that follows the use of surveillance systems, said in a report in July 2022 that cameras made by Hikvision or Dahua are largely used in the UK public system: 73% of councils use them, as well as 57% of secondary schools and 6 out of 10 National Health Service Trusts.
In a statement to CNN Business on Friday, Hikvision said that they “cannot access end users’ video data and cannot transmit data from end-users to third parties. We do not manage end-user databases, nor do we sell cloud storage in the UK.”
But, regarding if the camera is Chinese-manufactured or not, IoT cameras expose individuals to unwanted surveillance and tracking of their moves.
In recent cases, a woman was almost killed after an Amazon Ring camera alert pointed her as an intruder, and Ring confessed to having shared data with law authorities without user consent at least 11 times this year.
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