By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) – The Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday it had blocked two devices from the US market that contain foreign surveillance chips produced by a subsidiary of China’s Huawei, the first time it had exercised authority under new rules.
The US telecom agency said it barred a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter containing chips produced by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon, which the agency said advertises its chip as “designed for the surveillance market” and including “detection algorithms for human faces.”
• FCC Chair Brendan Carr said video devices containing surveillance chips produced by companies on its national security list “pose an obvious and unacceptable risk to the nation and our people.”
• Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment and HiSilicon could not immediately be reached.
• The FCC voted in July to bar sales of devices in the US that contain key hardware from Chinese companies deemed to be national security risks
• The Trump administration has mounted a sweeping crackdown on Chinese technology gear
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Edward Tobi)
