As China exports its surveillance tech to the world, a look at its use in Ecuador, where 4,300 cameras feed video to 16 monitoring stations employing ~3K people
In Ecuador, cameras across the country send footage to monitoring centers to be examined by police and domestic intelligence. Tweets: @melissakchan , @melissakchan , @melissakchan , @melissakchan , @melissakchan , @keithbradsher , @mdudas , @paulmozur , @gillianwong , @neerajka , and @melissakchan Tweets: Melissa Chan / @melissakchan : We (@paulmozur @jonah_kessel) learned that Ecuador's intelligence unit had access to these cameras, and esp. under the previous, decade-long government of Rafael Correa, could have been used not just to fight crime, but to target political opponents and monitor protests. Melissa Chan / @melissakchan : There was no public bidding process to set up these cameras. We learned that military attachés from the Chinese embassy in Ecuador hammered out the ~ $200 million USD deal over the course of a couple months. Melissa Chan / @melissakchan : Ecuador has a national system of 4,300 cameras and 16 monitoring centers. To fight crime, spot emergencies, or maybe spy. Called ECU-911. Designed and built primarily by two Chinese companies (CEIEC and Huawei), purchased with the help of a Chinese bank loan. We visited: pic.twitter.com/GsZj8EBDox Melissa Chan / @melissakchan : As our piece says: “Loans from Beijing have made surveillance technology available to governments that could not previously afford it, while China's authoritarian system has diminished the transparency and accountability of its use.” Melissa Chan / @melissakchan : But! Chinese companies are esp. good at selling national-level systems v. US/European surveillance tech companies that sell to municipalities or say a police dept. China can sell big systems because Chinese banks are in tow. That's what separates China from the rest. Keith Bradsher / @keithbradsher : While Chinese surveillance gear for Ecuador “was sold to the public as a way to get a grip on dizzying murder rates and drug-related petty crime, it also served Mr. Correa's authoritarian streak, supporting his feared National Intelligence Secretariat” http://www.nytimes.com/... Mike Dudas / @mdudas : “Today, 18 countries — including Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates and Germany — are using Chinese-made intelligent monitoring systems, and 36 have received training in topics like ‘public opinion guidance’” http://www.nytimes.com/... Paul Mozur / @paulmozur : Exporting the technology of authoritarianism: China has been selling its surveillance to the world. In Ecuador, where a camera and phone-tracking system was supposed to be used by police, we found a feared domestic intelligence agency also had access: https://www.nytimes.com/... Gillian Wong / @gillianwong : Mr. Pazmiño said he had an idea of who should be held accountable: China. “I believe what the Chinese model generates is control over society,” he said. | Great reporting by @paulmozur @jonah_kessel on China's newest export: the surveillance state http://www.nytimes.com/... Neeraj K. Agrawal / @neerajka : “With China's surveillance know-how and equipment now flowing to the world, critics warn that it could help underpin a future of tech-driven authoritarianism, potentially leading to a loss of privacy on an industrial scale.” http://www.nytimes.com/... Melissa Chan / @melissakchan : You know we read so much about China's sales of surveillance equipment to places like in Latin America we finally decided to get our arses over — to Ecuador. And this is our story that took us all the way right into the country's intelligence bunker: http://www.nytimes.com/...