AMAZON

Company buys thermal cameras on US blacklist

Amazon bought cameras to measure the temperature of its employees during the coronavirus pandemic of a company on the United States' blacklist of entities accused of helping China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, three sources told Reuters. familiar with the subject.
Chinese company Zhejiang Dahua Technology sent 1,500 cameras to Amazon this month, in a deal valued at about $ 10 million, one of the sources said. At least 500 of Dahua's systems - the blacklisted company - are for use by Amazon in the United States, another source said.
The acquisition of Amazon is legal because blacklist rules govern US government contract and export bids, but do not hinder private sector business.
However, the United States "considers transactions of any kind with listed entities to signal a" red flag "and recommend that American companies proceed with caution," according to the Department of Industry and Security website. Dahua disputes its inclusion on the list and Beijing denies abuse to minority groups.
The deal came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned of a shortage of thermometers and said it would not suspend the use of thermal cameras during the pandemic, which require regulatory approval from the agency. The largest American manufacturer, FLIR Systems, has a queue of weeks to wait and is prioritizing hospitals and other critical facilities.
Amazon declined to confirm the acquisition of Dahua's thermal cameras, but said that the equipment's hardware complies with the law, and that the temperature check it is doing serves to "support the health and safety of our employees, who continue to provide a critical service in our communities ".
The company added, without naming names, that it is implementing this type of system from several manufacturers. These suppliers include Infrared Cameras, which Reuters previously reported, and FLIR, according to employees of the Whole Foods market chain, controlled by Amazon and who implemented the system.
"It is worrying to know that well-known American companies continue to turn a blind eye to companies that feed the brutal treatment that the Chinese Communist Party gives to so many of its own citizens," said the Republican who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the USA, Michael McCaul, in reaction to the news.
Dahua, one of the world's largest manufacturers of surveillance cameras, said it does not discuss its commitments to customers and that it follows the laws. The company is committed to "mitigating the spread of Covid-19" through technology that detects "an abnormally high skin temperature - with great precision," said the company.
The US Department of Commerce, which maintains the blacklist, declined to comment. The FDA said it would be discreet in applying its regulations during the public health crisis, as long as thermal systems do not create "undue risks" and secondary assessments confirm their diagnoses.

Krystal Hu and Jeffrey Dastin-Reuters