ABSTRACT
The second chapter in a section looking at “technology in the shadows” examines China’s mass surveillance practices which have been significantly enhanced by big data and AI-powered policing tools. While Xinjiang in Western China has borne the brunt due to perceived terrorism risks, increasingly oppressive surveillance by PRC companies affects all of China, and over 70 countries worldwide. This chapter examines the under-examined role overseas companies and academia play in assisting the rise of the PRC surveillance apparatus. In the absence of more holistic ethical publication standards, international academic publications continue to produce publications that can have clear human rights impacts. Importantly, companies such as Intel, NVIDIA, and Xilinx provide AI chips to PRC surveillance entities that utilize them to train and deploy AI surveillance systems. Other companies such as Seagate and Western Digital provide AI surveillance hard drives as storage solutions. The PRC security industry considers these crucial to its surveillance products.
