Huawei worked on facial recognition system to surveil Uighurs, new report claims

Huawei worked on a facial recognition system to monitor and track China’s Uighur minority, according to a new report from video surveillance researchers at IPVM.

First reported by The Washington Post, the report draws on documents posted publicly to Huawei’s website, obtained via Google search. The facial recognition project appears to have been a demonstration of how Huawei hardware could be used to employ partner algorithms from a Chinese vendor called Megvii.

IPVM’s report particularly highlights the “Uighur Alert” feature, which would use facial recognition to identify a subject’s ethnicity and generate an alert if the subject belonged to China’s Uighur minority group.

A Muslim minority group from northwestern China, Uighurs are...

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