U.S.-based Cisco, HP to help China watch its citizens

The Chinese city of Chongqing is teaming up with electronics giant Cisco, Hewlett-Packard and others to gear up for one of “the largest and most sophisticated video-surveillance projects of its kind.”

Ever since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989, U.S. companies have been prohibited to export “crime-control” products to China and other hard-line governments. But, it turns out, technologies like cameras and filtering software sidesteps this ruling. 

Major questions arise here:

• Should companies be held accountable if their products are used for political suppression?

• Should some kind of corporate code of conduct be created to help ensure these products aren’t used to track and monitor everyday citizens?

• So many more…

– Jake Perry