Cctv And The Chinese

[Paigntonian]

Incredulous that a state-backed Chinese company is in control of 1million CCTV cameras in the UK, according to Channel 4 News, and that now, suddenly, some government departments and local authorities have decided to start removing some of them. Did they not know about data security until now and did they not know the Chinese Communist Party enjoys the intelligence from those cameras. Staggering.

[Old_Geezer]

They know nothing, they are from government departments. Some rat called Basil squeaked that it was ok.

[ichkeria]

Isn’t CCTV also the name of Beijing’s state foreign news channel?
I always thought that was a bit sinister!

[237SJ]

Data can't be shared outside of the EU (or at least that was the case before 'we' left the EU)

[douglas9401]

Sleepwalkers led by donkeys.

[Togo]

The company refered to by Paigntonian is Hikvision.( Taking the proverbial with the company name) The UK currently uses over a million "security" cameras supplied by this Chinese company. They are sited and operating in NH buildings, Council and local authority buildings, and Schools! The Company was bared in the US some time back and deemed a National security risk. They are accused of using the systems to harvest personel details about millions of UK sitizens, but deny any such intent.

""Hikvision and Dahua, both Chinese state-owned companies, have been blacklisted in the US after authorities ruled they pose threats to national security. British officials and rights campaigners say they provide the “technological infrastructure” for the oppression of Muslim Uighurs in China.
Thousands of public institutions in Britain are thought to have installed the companies’ cameras on buildings, which watch school pupils, government workers and members of the public. Many of the devices have advanced surveillance capabilities including facial, gender and behaviour detection, raising alarm among privacy advocates."" Telegraph.

Meanwhile on a tandem thread some are blithly accepting of these developements under the "we have done nothing wrong so we have no concerns" Fools all. P.S if the links below are paywalled I can post the content if you ask.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-using-chinese-cctv-linked-to-repression-of-uighurs-jzlkpjxhw

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-using-chinese-cctv-linked-to-repression-of-uighurs-jzlkpjxhw

[DTCwordfan]

and precisely what are they going to learn?

[Togo]

That is what we are asking DT. The cameras in our schools can already face recognise, differentiate between sexes, and recognise proscribed clothing items(non school uniform). As yet whether the cameras are also eavsdropping covertly has not been proven. The yanks though they were. The info garnered is future gold in schools and worth billions to insurance companies when gathered from hospitals and clinics.

I somehow managed to send the same link twice. This was the other intended.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/03/21/chinas-hikvision-embroiled-new-row-britains-cctv-watchdog/

[Old_Geezer]

Almost anything looked for. If the cameras are sending you info then you can target anyone for whatever nefarious reason at all.

[Zacs-Master]

‘and precisely what are they going to learn?’

You watch, the price of your favourite Chinese takeaway will rise exponentially and then where will we all be!

I love all these tinfoil hat brigade conspiracy theories.

[david small]

Dammed clever these Chinese.

[Gromit]

// the Chinese Communist Party enjoys the intelligence from those cameras. //

Do they? Any evidence?

Maybe in theory the pictures could be redirected to a Chinese Cloud server, millions of hours of it. And the Chinese see our roads get congested at drop off and pick up times from schools. How is that remotely useful? What is there for the Chinese to enjoy?

[Zacs-Master]

'Do they? Any evidence?' and I would add 'What are the consequences?'

[Gromit]

// Incredulous that a state-backed Chinese company is in control of 1million CCTV cameras in the UK //

Surely the cameras are connected to a control room in the local authority using a variety of other computers to point and record them. It would make no sense for Chinese operatives thousands of miles away to control them from there?

[archibaldy]

// Surely the cameras are connected to a control room in the local authority using a variety of other computers to point and record them. It would make no sense for Chinese operatives thousands of miles away to control them from there? //

From what I know of similar technologies you are correct that actual operation/control of the cameras and the data will be done by the UK owner of them. However complex systems like this aren't 'fit and forget', there will need to be a support agreement with the manufacturer who has to get involved when issues occur and to upgrade/maintain the system and servers etc. In order to provide this level of support privileged access is required to the system meaning access to data that system has logged. There is also the question of 'backdoors' that allow remote access to the system without detection.

[Peter Pedant]

excuse me
arent you one of the ones who gaily said
CCTV I have nothing to hide ! I dont mind at all

and now you do, because Mrs Mao may be looking over your shoulder

Pure AB on a sunnyt thursday