“Huawei has been involved in the development of Uyghur alarm”

It is reported that China’s Huawei was working with Beijing-based image recognition and AI company Megvii to develop a facial authentication system that tracks Uighurs.

IPVM, a research group, said on December 8 (local time) that Huawei and Megbee were developing a Uyghur tracking system using facial recognition technology in a joint investigation with the Washington Post. According to the Huawei Video Cloud Solution and Megbee dynamic face authentication interoperability test report of January 8, 2018 obtained by IPVM, the two sides jointly developed a facial recognition system, but Huawei verified Megbee face. It is described that the recognition system includes a Uyghur alarm that tracks Uyghur as a basic function.

This report also reports that the Megbee system has succeeded in determining not only age or gender but also ethnicity through feature analysis using facial recognition. The report says it is a confidential document, but the Washington Post says it was published on Huawei’s site, which can be found in a Google search. However, it was removed from Huawei’s site shortly after the Washington Post and IPVM asked Huawei for an answer.

Reportedly, both sides admit that the report is genuine. However, Huawei said that what was described in this report was simply about testing and was not actually used. Denied use. Megby also issued a statement that its solutions are not designed or custom-made to label ethnic groups, and that its business focuses on individual well-being and safety rather than monitoring specific ethnic groups.

An official from a human rights organization said that China will further strengthen surveillance by AI and treat minorities or protesters as national threats and track them. China’s surveillance technology will be used in other countries that want to make minorities criminals beyond the persecution of minorities. Pointed out.

Regarding the suppression of residents of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China has been criticized for using AI and facial authentication technologies to monitor Uyghurs. Therefore, in October 2019, the U.S. government added to the blacklist of banning transactions with domestic companies, claiming that the Chinese government was involved in human rights violations and monitoring of minorities such as Uighur, targeting 28 companies and organizations including Megby. They also took action.

According to the report’s findings, IPVM pointed out that the fact that Huawei and Megbee jointly developed Uyghur Alam clearly proves that numerous Chinese technology companies are deeply involved in the Uyghur suppression, and that anyone related to these companies should take note of this. . Related information can be found here .