US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention in China
a day ago
- #human-rights
- #technology
- #surveillance
- US tech companies played a significant role in building China's digital surveillance state, enabling human rights abuses.
- Surveillance technologies sold by US firms were used to monitor, detain, and control populations, including Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
- Documents reveal collaborations between companies like IBM, Cisco, and Dell with Chinese entities to develop systems like the 'Golden Shield'.
- Predictive policing technologies were marketed to Chinese authorities to preemptively target individuals deemed suspicious.
- Despite sanctions and outcry, US technology continues to power China's surveillance apparatus, impacting ordinary citizens like the Yang family.
- The Xinjiang crackdown utilized US-derived tech to detain hundreds of thousands, with systems flagging individuals based on arbitrary criteria.
- US companies often claimed ignorance of end-use but directly marketed products for surveillance and control, citing Communist Party rhetoric.
- The global spread of surveillance tech, initially developed in China with US help, raises concerns about its misuse worldwide.