Tech companies enabled China’s digital surveillance state, AP reports

IBM (IBM), Dell (DELL), HP (HPQ), Cisco (CSCO), Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC), Nvidia (NVDA), and other U.S. tech companies helped design and build China’s digital surveillance state, Dake Kang and Yael Grauer of The Associated Press report. The AP found a Chinese defense contractor, Huadi, worked with IBM to design the main policing system known as the “Golden Shield” for Beijing to censor the internet and crack down on alleged terrorists, according to thousands of pages of classified government blueprints taken out of China by a whistleblower. Meanwhile, Dell and a Chinese surveillance firm promoted a “military-grade” AI-powered laptop with “all-race recognition” on Dell’s official WeChat account in 2019, according to the report. The AP investigation was based on tens of thousands of leaked emails and databases from a Chinese surveillance company, and while tech companies often claim they aren’t responsible for how their products are used, the AP says some directly pitched their tech as tools for Chinese police to control citizens.