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[UPDATE] Huawei reportedly used facial recognition in Uighur surveillance project

UPDATE: FOLLOWING THE PUBLISHING OF THIS STORY, HUAWEI HAS PROVIDED A STATEMENT REGARDING THE REPORT. THE STATEMENT HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE END OF THIS POST.

THE ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS BELOW:

While facial recognition software is used as an added element of biometric security for smartphones and notebooks, it can also be used for more nefarious applications, particular as it pertains to invasive surveillance. It is why a recent report from The Washington Post concerning Huawei and the use of facial recognition software on Uighur minorities in China.

The report specifically cites a seven page internal document (PDF) which confirms that Huawei was working on a surveillance project to track and monitor people identified as Uighur. The project was specifically designed to demonstrate how Huawei hardware could be used to work with an algorithm from one of its partners – Megvii.

While such a demonstration is nothing new, as Huawei has long been working on a networked camera system for use in a smart city-like environment, but the application here is more than a little concerning, especially as Uighur minorities have been illegally targeted, detained and discriminated against by the Chinese government in recent years.

Of particular concern, is the report explaining that this project had a “Uighur Alert” feature, which identified a person based on ethnicity and flagged them should they fall under a specific parameter.

As such, any kind of ethnic bias serves as an unethical use of technology in many’s eyes.

Since the release of the report this week by The Washington Post, as well as an accompanying report from research firm IPVM, Huawei is yet to officially provide comment on the matter.

With the company having been placed on the US entity list for alleged use of technology for spying, this latest report does little to help the Chinese firm’s case for getting off of the list.

We highly recommend reading the full report from The Washington Post here.

Following the publishing of this story, Huawei has reached out to Hypertext with a statement to add clarity on the claims made in The Washington Post and Megvii reports.

The statement is as follows:

“We do not develop algorithms or applications in the field of facial recognition, but only general purpose technologies based on global standards in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Huawei is not involved in the service application layer that defines how the general purpose technology is utilised.

Furthermore, the Washington Post report refers to a test that has not been used in commercial practice.

According to the Washington Post, Megvii’s spokesperson stated that the company’s applications are not designed to identify ethnic groups.

Our products and solutions comply with relevant industry standards and legal requirements.”

[Source – The Washington Post]

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