How U.S. tech powers China's surveillance state from Axios.
Most shocking claim, Cisco in 2011, developed a network of 500,000 cameras that China used for street surveillance.
Apparently this was a joint venture with Hikvision that was on the table , more info here, though it’s unclear if the deal was consummated.
In technology terms, this is ancient history. Since 2011, China has focused on blocking foreign video surveillance providers and protecting their own companies, most notably Dahua and Hikvision.
Related: China: Foreign Video Surveillance Is Security Risk, Dahua and Hikvision Win Over $1 Billion In Government-Backed Projects In Xinjiang
Also, to give a sense of scale and how things have changed, in 2011, Hikvision's revenue was ~$600 million, it has increased 10x since then to ~$6 billion, driven by Hikvision's dominance of the China domestic market.
This is the work of someone googling and putting together a quick but shallow book report.
This is the work of someone googling and putting together a quick but shallow book report.
Politically motivated, perhaps?
The motivation is clear, as the author says:
Beijing has used U.S. tech to surveil its citizens, violate human rights and even modernize its military.
No doubt that would be a concern but China, for mercantilist and security purposes, has used their own tech.
Could you imagine China asking for Axis and Avigilon engineers to go to Xinjiang concentration camps and optimize the systems there?
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