Story at-a-glance
- Hikvision began as an entity of China, and its largest shareholder remains the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), a defense-industrial firm
- Hikvision receives generous support from China’s Communist leaders, allowing the company to offer low prices and expand abroad rapidly, outpacing much of its competition
- Hikvision cameras are used to surveil prisoners in “re-education” camps in China’s Xinjiang region, raising significant human rights concerns
- In the U.S., federal agencies were ordered by Congress to remove Hikvision cameras by August 2019 due to national security concerns
- Concerns have been raised that the Hikvision devices may have features, such as microphones, that can be turned on remotely, allowing them to relay information back to China
There’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Hikvision — and also a good chance that their cameras have been watching you nonetheless. The Chinese video surveillance company is a heavyweight in the industry, capable of producing 260,000 cameras daily, which works out to two for every three people born each day.1
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