The U.S. Department of Commerce has blacklisted Chinese surveillance system maker Tiandy Technologies for its involvement in the crackdown on Uyghurs. Writes about it NBC.
The company promoted its facial recognition software and smart interrogation tables, according to the agency. At the same time, the manufacturer used technologies developed in the United States, the ministry added.
In addition, the company supplied its products to Iran. According to the authorities, this allowed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to gain access to American technology, which is prohibited by US sanctions.
Human rights activists and lawmakers are concerned that Iranian authorities could use Tiandy’s video surveillance to quell a wave of anti-regime protests in the country.
One of the partners of the manufacturer of video surveillance systems, Intel, has already ceased cooperation with him. The mention of the Chinese company disappeared from the site even before the announcement of sanctions.
Intel spokeswoman Penny Bruce said the tech giant has “stopped doing business with Tiandy following an internal review.”
Senator Marco Rubio, who has previously called for sanctions against the firm, called the ministry’s decision “the right thing to do.” However, he called for additional action.
“The Chinese Communist Party is arming technology companies to achieve its geopolitical goals. The Department of Commerce should make more active use of all available tools to identify and punish perpetrators,” he said.
Tiandy is one of the leading video surveillance companies in China and the world. In 2021, the company’s sales revenue was more than $800 million. The firm has branches in more than 60 countries.
Representatives of Tiandy Technologies did not comment on the situation.
Recall that in December 2022 it became known that Hikvision advertised recognition technologies to European customers in defiance of sanctions.
In May 2021, a programmer-engineer from China told on testing the emotion identification system on Uighurs in Xinjiang police stations.
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