Beijing reportedly asked Hikvision to identify fasting students in Muslim-majority province
- Reference: 1699941546
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/14/hikvision_fasting_identification/
- Source link:
Hikvision used its [1]LinkedIn page to confirm it had won a tender for the project, but denied its products can analyse video streams to identify ethnic minorities.
The company claimed “this project never engaged in the development and deployment of the referenced features.”
[2]
Hikvision added that it was “reaching out to provide clarification on this matter.” It did not say to whom it will reach out.
[3]
[4]
But according to a [5]government announcement the Chinese surveillance equipment maker was required to meet the tender requirements without exception.
The $9 million contract required the first phase of a “Smart Campus” system be built out for Minjiang University in the Fujian province. The university [6]celebrated the completion of the contract in December 2022.
[7]China – which surveils everyone everywhere – floats facial recognition rules
[8]UK policing minister urges doubling down on face-scanning tech
[9]Hikvision, Nvidia named in contract for 'Uyghur detection'
[10]US government's Login.gov turns frown upside down, now smiles on facial recognition
Within the 600 page tender is the outline of a system called the "Assisted Analysis Of Ethnic Minority Students" which is intended to support administrators' "decision-making" and includes a feature that alerts administration to students suspected of fasting, according to [11]IPVM.
In addition to knowing if a student is fasting, the Minjiang University smart campus project tracks and provides school management with extensive information on a person’s daily habits and life, according to the tender.
[12]
This includes details on book borrowing, holiday destinations, passport use, student club activities, information about family members and where individuals stand on their application for membership to the Chinese Communist Party.
While reasons for observing fasting may vary, Beijing’s repression of Muslims raises suspicions that China wants to watch tired and hungry students observing the holy month of Ramadan, during which the faithful abstain from eating or drinking from dawn to sunset.
China is credibly [13]accused of committing human rights violations against its Muslim minorities, including incarceration and forced labour.
[14]
Some government employees have been [15]banned from fasting. Civil servants, students and teachers in the Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang have also received [16]similar orders.
Last July, Hikvision allegedly [17]provided the Chinese government with technology that could identify members of the Muslim Uyghur population under a different $6 million contract.
Hikvision denied the report claiming that identification functionality has not been available since 2018. ®
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[1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/hikvision-uk-%26-ireland_important-partner-letter-minjiang-university-activity-7128763570342776832-VSKx/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZVNTVcsje-nQLzsP2Y1W7wAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVNTVcsje-nQLzsP2Y1W7wAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVNTVcsje-nQLzsP2Y1W7wAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://perma.cc/EU8L-U2J8
[6] https://xjzx.mju.edu.cn/2022/1209/c37a143358/page.htm
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/08/china_facial_recognition_rules/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/31/uk_police_minister_lfr/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/31/beijing_hikvision_nvidia_uyghur/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/19/us_government_logingov_will_get/
[11] https://ipvm.com/reports/hikvision-fasting
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVNTVcsje-nQLzsP2Y1W7wAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-xinjiang-uyghurs-muslims-repression-genocide-human-rights#:~:text=Chinese%20officials%20are%20concerned%20that,CCP)%20took%20power%20in%201949.
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVNTVcsje-nQLzsP2Y1W7wAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/7/5/chinese-uighurs-defy-ramadan-ban
[16] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/6/18/china-bans-muslims-from-fasting-ramadan-in-xinjiang
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/31/beijing_hikvision_nvidia_uyghur/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
> China is credibly accused of committing human rights violations against its Muslim minorities, including incarceration and forced labour.
How else do you think we're getting our cheap shit? Enslave our own people? We abolished slavery and want nothing to do with it, remember?
> Some government employees have been banned from fasting.
Denying people their religion has always gone over so well.
Denying people their religion has always gone over so well.
Yes. They tend to practice it in secret and then do things that the government doesn't like, such as trying to stuff forty barrels of gunpowder under parliament. This would probably be why they are trying to track down people who are secretly practicing their religion by observable things such as shopping habits.
This is in fact a good indication of exactly how sinister those bloody loyalty cards etc could actually be if used by sufficiently malicious actors.
Buying candles? Possibly Catholic; on a list. Buying Kosher meat? On a list. Not doing your usual shops at Ramadan? On a list.
You don't even need an extreme political government to demand the information these days, you just need to be willing to sell the information, somebody with the ideology to leak it or for it to be hacked, and malicious groups have names and addresses for a pogrom.
I'm far from convinced that it's actually a good idea to allow this information to be collected, but the public are only likely to care after something particularly horrible happens.
What a lovely country...
Some world we live in...
Sir, you are fasting. You are to cease and desist immediately!
But, but, I'm just reducing my caloric intake to make ends meet.
Sir, you eat or you will be incarcerated and forced to eat!
The fact they took the cash, shows trashing Hikvision from the western markets was the right thing to do.
It's not like they have any choice in the matter. Hikvision is state owned and even if they weren't, it would be illegal to refuse a request from the government.
"suspected of fasting"
The fact you would want to find such "suspects" is suspicious. Not unexpected in the case of this particular government (and I bet there are many others who do the same, but less overtly).