The Chinese company is selling its lighting technology to Iran Revolutionary Guard, police, and the military, according to new IPVM report, research team. The company, named Tiandy, is one of the world’s largest video companies, with a reported $ 700 million sales by 2020. The company sells AI-enabled cameras and software, including facial recognition, software that claims to recognize human color, and “smart” interrogation tables used in conjunction with “leopard chairs,” which are widely listed as a tool for torture.
The report did not focus on China and Iran’s strategic alliance and how the country disseminates monitoring technology to foreign countries.
Tiandy’s “tribalism” tool, which has been widely criticized by experts as erroneous and inappropriate, believes it to be one of the few AI projects the Chinese government is doing used to oppress a small Uyghur group in Xinjiang province in this country, as well Huawei face recognition software, Emotion-detection AI technology, and much more. (Huawei has declined to participate in the region.)
The report, based on Tiandy’s publicity and marketing tools, reveals that the company has signed a five-year deal with Iran, which plans to have eight local employees. The report also states that although Tiandy is a private owner, their CEO, Dai Lin, is a supporter of the Communist Party, a Chinese ruling party, and the company is. a major contributor to the Chinese government. Although the exact package of surveillance capabilities that Tiandy will sell to Iran is unclear, IPVM has acquired Tiandy cameras used by the Iranian company Sairan – a “military supplier” in the state – and in an undisclosed military base. Tiandy also performs several functions in Iran on its own public page, in addition to working with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and police in the northern city of Khomam.
Most importantly, the report revealed that Tiandy video recorders (NVRs) are being used by Iranian military and with the help of a chip made by Intel manufacturer in the US, raising questions about whether the company has violated US sanctions on Iran. Penny Bruce, an Intel spokeswoman, told MIT Technology Review, “We don’t know what was said, and we’re investigating the situation.”
Larger alliance
The new report is one of the few evidence points to the long-standing concerns of experts: that Iran is trying to create a digital way for its citizens, following China’s example and using Chinese weapons. Monitoring and evaluation are key elements of the model, says Saeid Golkar, an Iranian security expert and professor at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. “The Islamic Republic is trying to make the Internet like China, creating greater connections and controls,” he said.