Britain should be more worried about Chinese-made cameras than spy balloons, Watchdog warns

Britain's Metropolitan Police "relies heavily" on China-based technology such as cameras, drones and other surveillance equipment  suspected of spying, according to a report released by Britain's Biometrics Commissioner has been published. and  Surveillance Cameras Commissioner, Fraser Sampson, claims. The report was compiled based on the findings of the Office of the Biometrics and Surveillance Cameras Commissioner - OBSCC. 

The UK OBSCC is made up of  staff nine (FTE) operating under the UK Home  The office is responsible for the processing of personal data on behalf of  Biometrics and CCTV Commissioner Fraser Sampson.   British police are "generally aware that there are ethical and security  concerns about the companies that supply their equipment," Sampson said in a speech by the Chinese-made cameras.A questionnaire was sent to at least 43 police departments in England and Wales, including the UK Transport Police, the Civilian Nuclear Police, the Ministry of Defense and the National Crime Agency (NCA), asking about the use of CCTV, surveillance cameras and drones. and helicopters,  body video  and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), among other technologies  used by UK police forces.

UK reviews its security measures as watchdog warns about Chinese-made cameras The watchdog said several police officers from all departments have reported safety and ethical  issues with security cameras made by China-based companies: Dahua, Hikvision , Honeywell, Huawei , and Nuo. Britain's national security problems with Chinese technology come amid the threat of Chinese spy balloons shot down in its airspace by the United States. Britain is now reviewing its security measures after the US military shot down a number of unidentified objects.  Sampson noted that he had doubts about China-based technology, particularly after the Chinese spy balloon flew 60,000 feet in the skies over Montana.

"I don't understand why we aren't at least as concerned about  Chinese cameras placed two meters above our heads in the streets and other places," he said.   "I and others have been saying for some time that, for both safety and ethical reasons, we really should ask ourselves if it's ever appropriate for public entities to use devices from companies with such serious issues," Sampson was quoted as saying by The British police also raised concerns about the ANPR systems used by the officers, with some even saying they were using the cameras made by Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd. or  Hikvision, a Chinese state-owned manufacturer, videos used for  body tracking.

Britain's allies like the United States had previously blacklisted China-based camera and drone  companies. The Australian Ministry of Defense also recently announced that it will remove all Chinese-made cameras  it suspects of surveillance and possible links to the Chinese Communist Party. The United States has blacklisted  unmanned aerial systems made by  China-based  DJI over surveillance and spyware problems. The US Treasury Department's Office of  Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) identified at least eight Chinese tech companies involved in biometric surveillance  suspected of collecting data from foreign citizens.