6-25-19 A new report by NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has now revealed how a mobile app used by these officials helps them collect vast amounts of personal data and prompts them to flag seemingly normal behaviour as suspicious. The app, designed by subsidiaries of a state-owned military contractor called China Electronics Technology Group Corporation according to procurement documents, was accessed by HRW when it became publicly available...Once HRW had access to the app they were able to reverse-engineer it. This process revealed that it is designed to help officials fulfill three broad functions: collecting personal information, reporting on activities deemed suspicious, and prompting investigations of people the system flags as problematic.
The HRW report details how the app presents officials with a series of drop-down menus. The information collected about individuals is wide-ranging, including blood-type, height, car colour, ‘religious atmosphere’ and political affiliation. This information is fed into a policing programme called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), one of the main systems Chinese authorities use for mass surveillance in Xinjiang....
The HRW report notes that many, if not all of these mass surveillance practices appear to be contrary to Chinese law. It also states that ‘many - if not most - behaviors the IJOP system pays special attention to have no clear relationship to terrorism or extremism’. Wang explains that while this accords with current understanding of the situation in Xinjiang, it provides an unprecedented insight into how the system actually works. ‘It reveals a contrast to the authorities’ narrative--this is about targeted surveillance,’ she says. The report goes on to state that information fed into the IJOP system, via the app and other means of surveillance, can lead to internment in Xinjiang’s prisons and political education camps, while other people are subjected to house arrest or face restrictions on their movement. http://geographical.co.uk/geopolitics/item/3228-surveillance-state
........................................................................6-1-19 Hikvision, the world’s biggest surveillance company and a once-popular target for foreign investors in China, supplies systems to detention camps in Xinjiang where an estimated 1m Uighurs are detained, according to human rights groups. Amnesty International has alleged the Chinese government is engaged in “a campaign of mass internment, intrusive surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation”....
But Candriam’s €458m emerging market fund, which is branded as a socially responsible investment strategy, acquired an initial stake in Hikvision between November and March, according to the latest public filings analysed by Copley Fund Research, a consultancy. Candriam said that 0.76 per cent of its fund was invested in Hikvision....
Candriam said concern over the use of surveillance technology was not specific to Hikvision, noting that there were “fundamental questions on its use by all governments-- not only China”. Candriam said it would engage with companies including Hikvision on the topic of the ethics of facial-recognition technology this year....
Candriam said it had taken the US government’s criticisms of Hikvision into account in the human rights analysis it undertook but that this “did not lead to the company’s exclusion. For a company to be excluded, strong evidence of repeated, significant and systematic violations of international standards and principles needs to be displayed,” it said. “Hikvision was not involved in any controversy until now.” (Only for several years, only involving millions of people.)...
Candriam’s fund is not the only ESG fund to buy Hikvision stock. The $3.8bn Vontobel MTX Sustainable EM Leaders fund bought into the company in 2017, and around 0.88 per cent of its assets were invested at the end of March. However, the fund sold out of Hikvision last month, Vontobel said. Another fund manager who sold out of Hikvision earlier this year told the Financial Times that investors were turning a blind eye to Xinjiang’s detention camps because the booming surveillance industry in China promised strong returns. “A lot of investors talk about ethical investing but when it comes to Hikvision and Xinjiang they are happy to fill their boots,” said the fund manager. “It is pretty hypocritical.”...
Hikvision was among a cohort of companies added by MSCI to its benchmark emerging markets index last year and has been a popular investment for foreign funds seeking exposure to China ever since. A fifth of about 189 of the world’s largest emerging market funds held Hikvision stock last November, according to Copley, placing the company in the top three most favoured A-shares.
https://www.ft.com/content/3ea09c51-0354-33a3-9a2f-4292b2d30c59
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