UK should ban CCTV cameras used by Chinese government, campaigners say
Local authorities across the UK are using the same CCTV cameras the Chinese government uses in Uyghur internment camps, the Free Tibet campaign has said, after calling on the government to ban use of the cameras in Britain.
At least 275 local councils have bought CCTV cameras from Chinese state-owned company Hikvision, despite claims the firm has helped facilitate the creation of a surveillance state in Tibet and that its cameras are used in Uyghur interment camps in Xinjiang.
After filing a series of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests, Big Brother Watch and the Free Tibet campaign found that 275 councils across Britain use Hikvision cameras, including almost every London local authority and every single local council in Northern Ireland.
In London, only the borough of Tower Hamlets – where China plans to build its new “super embassy” after purchasing the Royal Mint site near the Tower of London – has ruled out using Hikvision’s cameras.
Tower Hamlet’s decision to ban use of Hikvision’s technology comes after the east London council said it is considering plans to rename streets that surround the embassy site Uyghur Court, Hong Kong Road, Tibet Hill and Tiananmen Square.
In Scotland, every local authority apart from Stirling, West Lothian, and West Dunbartonshire use Hikvision’s cameras.
For reference, there are 333 principal councils in in England, 32 in Scotland, 32 in Wales, and 11 in Northern Ireland.
Sanctions
In response to the findings, Big Brother Watch and the Free Tibet campaign have called on councils to stop using Hikvision’s cameras and have called on the UK government to ban them from the UK.
The calls come after the US banned use of the cameras in January last year. In July, MPs on the UK’s foreign affairs committee published a report stating that Hikvision’s cameras are the primary form of surveillance tech used in Xinjiang camps.
Simon Randall, CEO of video privacy and security company Pimloc, said: “In the rush to keep public spaces safe and manage costs, councils have made compromises on people’s privacy we all may live to regret.”
“The fact that the US government and our own UK Department of Defence advise against using these cameras is a pretty compelling signal that there is cause for concern. We must do more to protect individuals’ privacy.”
Hikvision have been approached for comment.