Chinese Surveillance Cameras Used in 60 Percent of UK Public Bodies: Report

Hikvision headquarters in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang Province on May 22, 2019. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

China-made surveillance cameras dominate the British market, with over 60 percent of public bodies in the country currently using cameras made by Chinese firms Hikvision and Dahua, a new report (pdf) has revealed.

Through more than 4,500 Freedom of Information requests to government departments, police forces, universities, schools, and hospitals in the UK, civil liberties group Big Brother Watch found that around 2,800 public bodies, or 60.8 percent of all public bodies, maybe use surveillance equipment produced by the two controversial Chinese companies.

Hikvision and Dahua, the world’s top manufacturers of surveillance cameras, have been blacklisted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for posing a threat to American national security.

Both firms, which are ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are known to supply surveillance equipment that has been used to target Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang region.

Schoolchildren walking below surveillance cameras in Akto, south of Kashgar, in China's western Xinjiang region on June 4, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

Big Brother Watch said there are “serious privacy, legal, and ethical issues when foreign companies involved in ethnic persecution watch British streets.”

According to the findings, 34.9 percent of UK police forces, 73.2 percent of local authorities, and 60.3 percent of NHS (National Health Service) Trusts use Chinese-made CCTV equipment.

In addition, 53.8 percent of higher education bodies and 63.4 percent of schools use Chinese-made surveillance equipment.

Many of the cameras have advanced surveillance capabilities from object detection, behavioral analysis, to facial recognition, which come as standard on many of Hikvision and Dahua’s new camera models.

At least 40 schools that responded to the study have facial recognition capabilities in their CCTV equipment, though most say it is not active.

In 14 schools, the China-made cameras have demographic detection capabilities and detect people’s age and gender.

One education trust, which runs multiple schools, disclosed that its surveillance cameras have face mask detection and people-tracking capabilities, and some of its CCTV can use artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize a fight.

Big Brother Watch said: “The human rights concerns, security risks, and normalisation of highly advanced camera technology make the Hikvision and Dahua takeover of British CCTV systems particularly alarming.

“If these cameras are used to profile and persecute ethnic minorities abroad, what could bad actors use them for at home?”

Commenting on the report, senior Conservative MP David Davis called the revelations “shocking.”

“Technology so closely linked to the repression of Uyghurs should not be being used in the UK,” he wrote on Twitter. “The widespread use of Hikvision and Dahua CCTV in the UK poses serious rights and security risks.”

In July 2021, the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons called for a ban on products of Hikvision and Dahua in the UK. But the government did not accept the recommendation.