Amidst growing concerns from many workers over the Coronavirus pandemic, Amazon had to employ various precautionary measures to ensure the safety of its employees. For this, the e-retailing giant started providing face masks and conduct regular temperature checks through thermal cameras. However, it seems that Amazon has bought cameras from a Chinese company that was previously blacklisted by the US government.
According to a Reuters report, Amazon has spent about 10 million US Dollars for 1,500 thermal cameras. Although, it seems that the company Amazon has bought them from was previously implicated to be involved with China’s efforts to detain and harass Uighurs and Muslim minorities. The Chinese company, Zhejiang Dahua Technology, has declined any such allegation but it was one of the 28 companies that had faced the trade ban from the US Commerce Department back in October 2019.
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Zhejiang Dahua Technology was placed on the “Entity List” similar to Huawei. For those unaware, it is essentially the blacklisting of a company that is deemed to be a threat to the US. These companies face pressure from the US and have their operations hindered as they cannot buy or sell products/services to American based companies.
Apparently, the purchase from Amazon is legal since the “rules control the US Government contract awards and exports to blacklisted firms.” However, they do not stop sales to the private sector. Furthermore, Amazon did not confirm the purchase, rather, it was using thermal cameras from “multiple’ sources and not limited to just Dahua. This includes Infrared Cameras Inc and Flir, with about 500 cameras being used in the US. Interestingly, the Dahua made cameras are capable of facial recognition to match temperature data later on, but Amazon insists on not using this technology in their cameras.
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(Via)
