IPVM

IPVM is a security and surveillance industry research group based in the United States.[1][5][6] IPVM gained recognition in 2020 and 2021 for its reporting on the use of thermal imaging cameras during the COVID-19 pandemic[7][8][9] and for covering how PRC-based technology firms Alibaba,[5][10][11] Dahua Technology,[12][13] Huawei[12][14][15] and Megvii[12][13] filed patents for face detection technology designed to target Uyghurs.

IPVM
Type of businessCorporation
Type of site
Investigative journalism, technology journalism
Available inEnglish
Founded2008 (2008)
HeadquartersBethlehem, Pennsylvania,
United States
Country of originUnited States
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)John Honovich
EditorCarl Stoffers
PresidentJohn Honovich
CEOJohn Honovich
IndustryClosed-circuit television, access control
ServicesProduct testing
ParentIP Video Market Info Inc.
URLipvm.com
AdvertisingNo
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
Launched2008
Current statusLive
[1][2][3][4]

History

In 2008, John Honovich launched IPVM, an initialism of Internet Protocol Video Market, in Hawaii.[1] The website's first article was published on April 10, 2008.[16]

In October 2018, Reporters Without Borders condemned the Chinese government’s decision to block IPVM's website behind the Great Firewall.[17]

In December 2019, IPVM opened a 12,000 sq. ft. (1,115 m2) research facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where it tests video surveillance hardware and software from manufacturers such as AnyVision, Avigilon, Axis Communications, Dahua, and Hikvision.[1][18]

In March 2021, the Journal of Biomedical Optics published a study by five IPVM researchers and a U.S. military medical service officer on the problems with COVID-19 fever screening devices.[19] The study was funded by IPVM and conducted at its Pennsylvania research facility.[19]

In May 2021, the BBC aired Are You Scared Yet, Human?, a Panorama documentary featuring an interview with IPVM on Dahua Technology's, Hikvision's, and Huawei's roles in developing mass surveillance technologies in China, including technological products designed to identify Uyghurs.[20]

In September 2021, IPVM named Kean University professor and former The New York Times Upfront editor Carl Stoffers as its managing editor.[2] Also in September 2021, IPVM presented an expert statement to the Uyghur Tribunal in the United Kingdom.[21][22]

Joint investigations

In 2020, The Washington Post and IPVM jointly reported on Huawei's testing of facial recognition technology designed to identify Uyghurs.[23][24]

In 2021, IPVM partnered with TechCrunch to examine U.S. local governments' purchases and U.S. retailers' sales of surveillance equipment manufactured by companies linked to Uyghur abuses[25][26] as well as with The Intercept to investigate the U.S. military's purchase of sanctioned cameras for the U.S. embassy in Caracas.[27]

In 2022, IPVM partnered with the MIT Technology Review to examine an Israeli company's plan to develop DNA-based facial recognition.[28]

Controversies

Hikvision

In July 2021, Hikvision resigned its membership in the Security Industry Association, a U.S.-based trade association, citing in its resignation letter that it had been "harassed and maligned" by IPVM.[29][30][31] Hikvision further claimed that IPVM had engaged in "unethical hacking" of its cameras and that IPVM had published "misleading blog stories."[29][30][31]

In January 2022, Axios reported that Hikvision had asked U.S. congressional ethics officials to investigate potential lobbying disclosure violations by IPVM.[32] U.S. senator Marco Rubio and congresswoman Claudia Tenney retweeted the Axios article,[33][34] urging their congressional colleagues to ignore Hikvision while claiming that Hikvision's accusations against IPVM amounted to censorship.[33][34][35]

Global Times

In November 2021, Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article by Gao Lei writing under the pen name 耿直哥,[36] or Candid Brother, to its Baidu[37] and WeChat[38] accounts criticizing IPVM as a U.S. government mouthpiece parading as a civilian company. Lei also compared IPVM founder John Honovich to German anthropologist Adrian Zenz and claimed that another IPVM employee is "a rather extreme white right-winger."[37][38]

China Daily

In January 2022, China Daily, a Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper, published an article and a video noting IPVM's work with the BBC, The New York Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post, criticizing it as a "mass surveillance company" that has "been sharing tons of data they have collected on Xinjiang and on other Chinese entities."[39]

References
  1. Salamone, Anthony (2020-01-02). "Who's watching those who monitor us with video surveillance? A Lehigh Valley company, that's who". The Morning Call. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  2. "IPVM Names First Managing Editor Carl Stoffers" (Press release). Bethlehem, Pa.: PR Newswire. 2021-09-07. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  3. "Privacy Policy". IPVM. 2021-08-25. Retrieved 2021-10-26. Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to IP Video Market Info Inc., 3713 Linden St, Bethlehem, PA 18020.
  4. "IP VIDEO MARKET INFO INC". Hawaii Business Express. Business Registration Division, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Retrieved 2021-11-02. HONOVICH,JOHN CEO/P/D
  5. "Alibaba says its technology won't target Uighurs". BBC. 2020-12-18. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  6. "Huawei aurait bien déposé un brevet pour une technologie d'identification des Ouïgours". 20 minutes (in French). 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  7. Singer, Natsha (2020-05-19). "A.C.L.U. Warns Against Fever-Screening Tools for Coronavirus". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  8. Harwell, Drew (2020-05-11). "Thermal scanners are the latest technology being deployed to detect the coronavirus. But they don't really work". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  9. Xiao, Eva (2020-05-21). "Covid-19 Raises Demand for Temperature Scanners". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  10. Zhong, Raymond (2020-12-16). "As China Tracked Muslims, Alibaba Showed Customers How They Could, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  11. Davidson, Helen (2020-12-17). "Alibaba offered clients facial recognition to identify Uighur people, report reveals". The Guardian. Taipei. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  12. Kelion, Leo (2021-01-13). "Huawei patent mentions use of Uighur-spotting tech". BBC. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  13. Asher-Schapiro, Avi (2021-01-21). "Chinese companies patent Uighur-spotting tech". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
  14. Dou, Eva; Harwell, Drew (2020-12-12). "Huawei worked on several surveillance systems promoted to identify ethnicity, documents show". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  15. Kharpal, Arjun (2021-01-14). "China A.I. firms and Huawei filed to patent technology that could identify Uighur Muslims, report says". CNBC. Guangzhou, China. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  16. Honovich, John (2008-04-10). "March Revealing Details on Strategy Shift". IPVM. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  17. "China censors US publication focusing on the video surveillance industry". Reporters Without Borders. 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  18. "World's First AI Video Surveillance Testing Facility Opened by IPVM" (Press release). Bethlehem, Pa.: PR Newswire. 2019-12-16. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  19. Healy, Conor; Segal, Zachary; Hinnerichs, Chris; Ace, Ethan; Ward, Derek; Honovich, John (2021-03-13). "Globally deployed COVID-19 fever screening devices using infrared thermographs consistently normalize high readings to afebrile range". Journal of Biomedical Optics. 26 (4): 043009. Bibcode:2021JBO....26d3009H. doi:10.1117/1.JBO.26.4.043009. PMC 7955777. PMID 33715317.
  20. Are You Scared Yet, Human? (Television production). BBC. 2021-05-26. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  21. "Statements". Uyghur Tribunal. Uyghur Tribunal. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  22. Conor Healy (2021-08-20). Uyghur Surveillance & Ethnicity Detection Analytics in China (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  23. Wong, Alan (2020-12-16). "Senior Huawei Executive Resigns Over Muslim-Tracking Technology". Vice News. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  24. Nogueira, Luiz (2020-12-16). "Huawei executive resigns after controversy with facial recognition system for Muslims". Olhar Digital. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  25. Whittaker, Zack (2021-05-24). "US towns are buying Chinese surveillance tech tied to Uighur abuses". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  26. Whittaker, Zack (2021-10-25). "US retail giants pull Chinese surveillance tech from shelves". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  27. Biddle, Sam (2021-07-20). "U.S. MILITARY BOUGHT CAMERAS IN VIOLATION OF AMERICA'S OWN CHINA SANCTIONS". The Intercept. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  28. Ryan-Mosley, Tate (2022-01-31). "This company says it's developing a system that can recognize your face from just your DNA". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  29. Griffin, Joel (2021-07-21). "Hikvision resigns its SIA membership". SecurityInfoWatch.com. Retrieved 2021-10-21.
  30. Bosch, Rodney (2021-07-26). "Hikvision Submits Membership Resignation Letter to SIA". Security Sales & Integration. Silver Spring, Md. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  31. Cimpanu, Catalin (2021-07-25). "Dahua, Hikvision out of security camera industry group". The Record. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  32. Markay, Lachlan (2022-01-04). "Scoop: Chinese surveillance firm ramps up fight against regulators". Axios. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  33. @SenRubioPress (January 4, 2022). "Chinese Communist companies have no place in the U.S. surveillance industry, and Sen. Rubio's Secure Equipment Act, which is current law, makes that crystal-clear. Congress should pay no heed to #CCP propaganda and dismiss Hikvision's pathetic claims against @ipvideo" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. @RepTenney (January 4, 2022). "Chinese state-directed surveillance firm @HikvisionHQ is not content with just violating human rights in China, now they're trying to silence dissent and import #CCP style censorship to the US. Congress should ignore Hikvision's smear campaign against @ipvideo" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  35. "Rubio, Tenney Urge Senate Secretary, House Clerk to Reject Attempts by Chinese Communist Party to Silence American Publisher" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: Marco Rubio US Senator for Florida. 2022-01-18. Retrieved 2022-01-21.
  36. "耿直哥 - 知乎".
  37. "境外舆论场掀起新一波妖魔化中国的攻势！" [Overseas public opinion sets off a new wave of offensive attack to demonize China!] (in Chinese). 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  38. 耿直哥 (2021-11-30). "境外舆论场掀起新一波妖魔化中国的攻势！" [Overseas public opinion sets off a new wave of offensive attack to demonize China!] (in Chinese). Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  39. "美国大规模监控中国政府采购公开招标信息，纽约时报等都牵涉其中..." China Daily. 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
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