The U.S. government has added eight Chinese tech companies that focus on facial recognition and artificial intelligence to its “Entity List.”
A total of 28 Chinese organizations have been added to the list. That list includes China-based telecommunications giant Huawei. By doing so, the U.S. government has prohibited these companies from working with suppliers in the U.S.
The government states that the companies have been added to the Entity List due to human rights concerns.
A file published by the U.S. Department of Commerce says the firms have been blacklisted because of their repression and “high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs and other members of Muslim minority groups.”
Two of the biggest video surveillance firms in the world, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co, are among the blacklisted companies.
Although these companies will now face difficulties when working with U.S. companies, there are ways to work around it. U.S. suppliers can keep on selling their products to these companies by applying for a license.
Huawei was added to this list in May when U.S. President Donald Trump banned it from working with any U.S.-based companies. In June, his administration slightly lifted the ban. A new deadline has been set for November for companies to determine alternative plans if they currently are invested in working with the China-based company.
With respect to Huawei in Canada, the government still has not made a decision regarding its participation in the rollout of 5G infrastructure.
The number of tech companies that have been added to the U.S. entity list has steadily been growing.
Facial recognition and artificial intelligence have recently become controversial ideas due to growing privacy concerns.
Earlier this year in May, federal Members of Parliament (MP) from all parties in Canada said that some form of legislation should be considered in Canada.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, The Wall Street Journal Via: Engadget
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