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Surveillance cameras made by Hikvision, the Chinese company that has been implicated in serious human rights violations and has been blacklisted by the US government, are used across the UK, from entertainment venues in London to school toilets in West Norfolk.
While the use of surveillance cameras had already sounded the alarms in the British Parliament last year, the use of cameras has expanded in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic despite accusations from the US government. That the company’s cameras have been used to monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China who are being held in internment camps.
Chinese experts in the US have also pointed to concerns among US intelligence agencies that the cameras could be used by Chinese intelligence to spy on or collect data from people outside of China.
“The concern is, are the Chinese extraterritorializing their surveillance state? You could argue that they are when other countries are using technologies like Hikvision that they use on their own citizens. Now they can do it globally, ”said James Lewis, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC.
Hikvision has refuted those concerns, saying there is no evidence that surveillance collected in other countries using its cameras was sent to Beijing.
But the deployment of Hikvision cameras without any formal statement of concern from the British government (public records show that they are being used in Kensington and Chelsea, Chelmsford, Guildford council, Coventry council, and Mole Valley council, among others) is evidence of how the British and US governments have diverged in their responses to concerns about Chinese surveillance and human rights abuses.
David Lloyd Leisure, the U.K. luxury gym chain that has said it has “zero tolerance” for modern slavery, implemented Hikvision thermal cameras in some of its gyms as part of its Covid-19 security protocol.
In West Norfolk, public records show that the cameras were installed in the bathrooms at Smithdon High School in Hunstanton, purportedly “to ensure the personal health and safety of all students and to prevent vandalism and damage.”
The Guardian reported in February that the Home Office had agreed to allow Hikvision to attend a security and surveillance trade fair it was organizing in Farnborough, Hampshire. The invitation came just months after the US government announced that Hikvision was one of dozens of Chinese companies “implicated in human rights violations and abuses” in China in connection with the country’s campaign of “crackdown, mass arbitrary detention. and high-tech surveillance. ” in Xinjiang.
The company, the world’s largest supplier of surveillance equipment, has acknowledged that its cameras may have been used in “reeducation camps,” the internment camps used to detain at least one million people from China’s Muslim minorities. .
Hikvision cameras are still used in the US, but the company was included on the US Department of Commerce’s entity list last year, which prohibits Hikvision from purchasing parts and components from US companies without a license. special. The Pentagon has also included the company on a list of groups that are owned or controlled by the Chinese military. Hikvision has denied the claim.
An Intercept report last year estimated that there were more than 1.2 million Hikvision cameras in the UK. The Guardian asked councils using Hikvision cameras to comment, but only one, the Guildford council, responded.
A spokesperson said: “We currently use those cameras in the area, but we were not aware of these claims at the time of the acquisition.”
A client of David Lloyd’s gym in Finchley, north London, who declined to be identified because he has to travel to China for work and was nervous about possible retaliation, said he had noticed that thermal cameras had recently been installed. Hikvision in what it assumed was part of the leisure center’s Covid readiness plans.
“I was quite surprised to see this after having been aware of Hikvision for some time and its involvement in the mass internment of more than a million members of the Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang,” the person said.
One of the gym’s clients said he informed the gym’s management of his concerns regarding the “ethics of his hiring and tacit support for a company implicated in human rights abuses.” He said the gym later told him that they had raised it with “head office”, who allegedly said they “had no problem” using it as its use is legal in the UK.
David Lloyd Leisure declined to comment on the use of Hikvision cameras or the concerns of its customers.
“We never comment on specific systems, security measures or individual vendors as a matter of policy,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The person said the group was “committed to the health and safety of our members and our team” and had put “a number of systems in place that have been introduced or updated to ensure we are Covid-19 compliant, all of which meet or exceed UK standards and current legislation ”.
The group declined to comment on whether its use of Hikvision cameras was consistent with the tenets of its 2019 anti-slavery pledge, in which the company said it had a “zero tolerance approach” to modern slavery and is “compromised. to act ethically. ” and with integrity in all of our dealings and business relationships to ensure modern slavery is not occurring in our business or supply chains. “
Hikvision said it took reports of human rights violations “very seriously and recognizes our responsibility to protect people.”
“We have been working with the government of the United States and the United Kingdom to clarify misunderstandings about the company and address their concerns. Hikvision has consistently focused on technology leadership, focused on customer service and committed to cybersecurity standards, meeting the most rigorous certifications and best practices, ”the company said.
In response to questions about US concerns about possible use of Hikvision by Chinese intelligence, the company said: “Hikvision’s cybersecurity standards meet the most rigorous certifications. The company has worked with the governments of the US and the UK to ensure the safety of our products. “
Samuel Woodhams, a digital rights researcher at London-based internet research firm Top10VPN, said the widespread use of cameras could lead to the introduction of even more advanced surveillance technologies, including thermal imaging and facial recognition cameras. .
“Hikvision, along with other controversial surveillance companies, appear to be trying to capitalize on the pandemic and expand its reach within the UK. Public authorities and businesses must bear in mind that once increased surveillance measures are introduced, it is difficult to reverse them and the damage done to individual freedoms of citizens can be long-lasting, ”Woodhams said.
