Back in 2019, a law was passed and signed to make it illegal for United States federal agencies to procure or buy electronics manufactured by certain China-based companies, these include Hikvision, Huawei and, Dahua. The reason for the banning was for fear that the Chinese government could use the transactions to conduct espionage. The ban did not stop the U.S. government though, as three U.S. federal agencies and the U.S. military recently purchased Chinese-made video surveillance equipment. Collectively spending thousands of dollars from the surveillance manufacturer Lorex, owned by Dahua. It is one of several Chinese companies banned specifically from selling to the U.S. federal government. Moreover, the company in question was even banned from economic trade as it was linked to Chinas efforts to suppress ethnic minorities.
Shockingly, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency bought nine hard drives for surveillance systems in May 2021 through a federal supplier. Furthermore, the Defence Finance and Accounting Service bought Lorex Video surveillance cameras in July 2021. According to a spokesperson, they were aware of the ban and performed due diligence. However, they still removed the cameras from service “until further analysis can be performed,” solidifying the fact that they were caught red-handed. At the very least, a Democratic spokesperson for the House Armed Services Committee fully expects the departments in question to take appropriate action for their involvement and mitigate future problems. The department’s excuse was that there was little time for federal contractors to comply with the ban before it took effect. However, I believe this is not a justified reason. I imagine there were many other alternatives to the specific banned Chinese technology purchased. Even if the Chinese tech was superior, this is by no means a legitimate reason for going over the ban. It is a shame that government agencies can get away with breaking laws made specifically for them. If these governments cannot adhere to federal laws, it sends a message that they simply do not care. What I find astonishing is that retail companies like Home Depot and Best Buy pulled this tech off of their shelves on their own accord. Stating their commitment to ethical sourcing and discontinuing their relationships with the Chinese company.
I have little insight into the issue and risk posed when purchasing such Chinese equipment. The banning of these products may have been an overreaction from espionage fear. However, my criticality stems from the fact that an entity can disregard a ban on a product, especially a government entity, and this is where the fear sets in. This would, as expected, lead to some level of chaos depending on the extreme and future scenarios for law-breaking governments. I imagine most people would agree that the departments responsible for breaking the law should be held responsible, and these events should not have transpired in the first place. I see the trend of banning Chinese electronics and technology continuing for a multitude of reasons including data and privacy concerns. And so, it is incredibly important that the disregard of the law from government entities to never happen again, in order to set the right example for the society it governs. It will be interesting to see what consequences come from this, but unfortunately I predict none and it will simply be swept under the rug.
Sources: https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/01/federal-lorex-surveillance-ban/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/25/lorex-ezviz-pulled-from-shelves/