Video: How Big Tech is Aiding Blacklisted Chinese Surveillance Firms

American big tech companies, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, are supporting Chinese surveillance firms that have been blacklisted by the United States over human rights violations. That’s according to a new report. Top10VPN, a site that reviews virtual private networks (VPNs) and researches digital rights and security issues, found in a recent report that more than a dozen U.S. tech firms provide “essential web services” required to power the websites of blacklisted Chinese companies.

Last October, the commerce department put 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies on an economic blacklist over their role in aiding the repression and surveillance of Uyghur Muslims in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. It included some of China’s top artificial intelligence (AI) startups and video surveillance company Hikvision. The designation bars U.S. firms from doing business with those companies without a license from the department. An estimated more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities are detained in internment camps in Xinjiang as part of the regime’s purported fight against “extremism.” Outside the detention centers, the regime’s inhabitants are heavily monitored by a dense network of AI-enhanced surveillance cameras and security checkpoints. The report said: “Through providing essential web services to these controversial companies, U.S. firms are playing a part in the proliferation of highly invasive surveillance products that have the potential to undermine human rights around the world.” It said that Google is providing content delivery network and analytics services to Hikvision and data recovery firm Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co, both on the U.S. blacklist. Amazon, it added, provides web hosting for Hikvision and surveillance equipment maker Zhejiang Dahua Technology. The report said that Microsoft supplies email hosting for SenseTime and Megvii, two of China’s most valuable AI startups. The researchers named several other U.S. tech companies that provide website hosting, authentication, and related services, including Digicert, Stackpath, Symantec, Let’s Encrypt, Entrust, and GeoTrust. Facebook and Twitter were also identified as providing content delivery network services for Hikvision. Original article: How US Big Tech is Aiding Blacklisted Chinese Surveillance Firms

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Update: I am getting in touch as you recently syndicated an article from the Epoch Times concerning our research into US big tech supporting blacklisted surveillance companies. I want to make you aware that we have just issued a correction to our research after clarifying some of our findings. We initially described Google as providing CDN services to a number of controversial companies. While Google does use CDN technology to deliver certain publicly available resources to these companies, it is not accurate to suggest an active relationship between them on this basis. Whilst public records indicate Google does provide email services to five controversial companies in our report, none of these are Chinese companies on the US blacklist. Twitter and Facebook were also similarly incorrectly described. We have updated our report throughout to reflect the above changes. Please do let us know if you have questions about this update. Best wishes, Katherine