Transparency data

Letter from Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner to Hikvision, 16 July 2021 (accessible version)

Updated 15 November 2023

Professor Fraser Sampson
Surveillance Camera Commissioner
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

16 July 2021

www.gov.uk/surveillance-camera-commissioner

Justin Hollis

Marketing Director, Hikvision UK & Ireland

Dear Justin,

Letter to Surveillance Partners: 바카라 사이트淭he UK바카라 사이트檚 Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang and Beyond.바카라 사이트�

May I begin by introducing myself. I am the Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner and am broadly responsible for providing guidance on the regulation of public surveillance camera systems in England and Wales. You will be aware of the considerable public interest in the use of developing surveillance technology, not just in the UK, but globally, and a key part of my role is to promote the statutory Surveillance Camera Code which aims to achieve accountable, proportionate and transparent use of surveillance cameras in public space. I was therefore very interested to see a copy of your letter dated 12 July 2021 addressed to 바카라 사이트榲alued partners바카라 사이트�, one of whom shared it with my office.

Headed 바카라 사이트淭he House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee published on 8th July its report entitled 바카라 사이트淣ever Again: The UK바카라 사이트檚 Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang and Beyond.바카라 사이트� your letter covers a number of important issues that fall within my remit. As you concluded by inviting recipients to get in touch if they have any questions, I hope you will welcome this prompt and inquisitive response. I was heartened to read that Hikvision has a 바카라 사이트渃ommitment to openness and transparency바카라 사이트� and it is in that spirit of openness and transparency that I am writing to you.

I note that the Chair has said of his Committee바카라 사이트檚 report that it 바카라 사이트渕oves the conversation forward, away from the question of whether crimes are taking place and on to what the UK should do to end them바카라 사이트�. It is unclear from your letter to surveillance partners whether you accept that basic premise, namely that crimes are being committed against the Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and I would be grateful if you could clarify this at the outset.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I both welcome and support the Committee바카라 사이트檚 assertion (at para 54) that the role of advanced technologies in the use of oppression in Xinjiang cannot be ignored here and I would be keen to establish your view as it sets the critical context against which any more technical or nuanced matters of your company바카라 사이트檚 surveillance 바카라 사이트榦ffer바카라 사이트� can be meaningfully discussed.

Moving, if I may, to some of your letter바카라 사이트檚 more specific points, you cite 바카라 사이트榦ne of the recommendations바카라 사이트� in the Committee바카라 사이트檚 report as 바카라 사이트榗alling for Hikvision to be banned in the UK바카라 사이트�, something which you say has been the product of a knee-jerk reaction. You go on to say that, in arriving at its recommendation, the Committee has made a 바카라 사이트渟taggering leap바카라 사이트� that is not based on any concrete evidence, leading to an 바카라 사이트渦nacceptable message to all those that support evidence-based policy making바카라 사이트�. I fully endorse your explicit recognition that the 바카라 사이트榤essages바카라 사이트� we send to supporters of evidence-based policy making are crucial in this area. By clarifying our respective positions, we will ensure that those messages are unequivocal. And while policy making is a matter for others, as one of those who supports an evidence-based approach to developing and influencing it, I would also like to understand your position a little better myself.

You describe the Committee바카라 사이트檚 finding that your cameras have been deployed throughout Xinjiang and provide the primary camera technology used in the Uyghur internment camps as 바카라 사이트渦nsubstantiated and not underpinned by evidence바카라 사이트�. Again, it was far from clear to me whether Hikvision are denying that their systems have been so deployed. The paragraph in the Committee바카라 사이트檚 report from which you quote in fact recommends the proscription of companies known to be associated with the Xinjiang atrocities, of which Hikvision is said to be one. I would be grateful if you could confirm whether your camera technology has in fact been used in the Uyghur internment camps and whether you accept that there is, at least to that extent, such an 바카라 사이트榓ssociation바카라 사이트�.

You also highlight that the report 바카라 사이트渄raws on the views of two academics바카라 사이트� and their 바카라 사이트渃oncerns about data collected from facial recognition cameras that could be used by the Chinese 바카라 사이트.바카라 사이트� Are you aware of the extent to which those concerns are shared by your customers and the public in the UK, both in the locations named in the report and at large? I would be very keen to see any evidence you have as the question of how far the public can put their trust in such surveillance technology is currently one of the most pertinent and prevalent in this area. My office regularly receives enquiries from local authorities, the police and the public asking for guidance on this very point, as demonstrated by the sharing of your letter with me.

In that letter you share your own experts바카라 사이트� views on the absence of any direct interference with human rights by your company. However, you will know that much legitimate public concern in the area of oppression-by-surveillance comes, less from 바카라 사이트榙eliberate intent바카라 사이트� or 바카라 사이트榳ilful disregard바카라 사이트� (the threshold for which is notoriously difficult to satisfy), and more from third parties 바카라 사이트榣ooking the other way바카라 사이트� or failing to speak out when that is the only right thing to do - something which, it seems to me, is the elemental premise of the Committee바카라 사이트檚 report as regards an appropriate response from the UK. Is it your position that Hikvision had no knowledge of the use(s) of its surveillance camera systems in the internment facilities? This would seem to be incongruous with your welcome assurance that Hikvision 바카라 사이트渉old our products to the industry바카라 사이트檚 highest global cybersecurity standards바카라 사이트� and I think clarity is particularly important here. In any event, given that the Committee has found and condemned an association between the surveillance equipment and the perpetration of human rights abuses adverted to in its report, I would be very interested to hear how you will reassure people in the UK that you are both taking the Committee바카라 사이트檚 concerns seriously and addressing the degree to which operators and the public might place their trust in your end-to-end surveillance systems in the future.

In conclusion, I began by referring to the Surveillance Camera Code which provides a set of principles and standards by which regulation and accountability can be achieved in the operation of surveillance camera systems. That Code is about to be revised and will, once approved by ministers, be published for public consultation; I would encourage your engagement in that important democratic process.

In the meantime, I look forward to receiving your response and thank you again for inviting questions.

Yours sincerely

Fraser Sampson, Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner England & Wales

Email: scc@sccommissioner.gov.uk