FCC blocks two gadgets containing chip from Huawei subsidiary
The FCC has blocked two unspecified gadgets because they contain a chip it calls a “foreign surveillance chip”. This is the first time the agency has used a power it granted itself on 13 October to block devices containing computer chips made by companies on its list of potential national security threats.
The chip is HiVision’s Hi3516CV610 UHD Smart Vision SoC, which processes camera sensor data for products such as home security cameras and dashcams. The FCC says HiVision markets it for surveillance and notes its human-face detection algorithms; HiVision is a Huawei subsidiary, and Huawei is on the FCC’s Covered List. The new authority is intended to close a loophole that could allow listed companies’ components into other firms’ devices, though the article raises questions about the FCC’s rationale and enforcement.
In short
- The FCC has blocked two gadgets containing a HiVision camera chip.
- It is the first use of a new power covering chips from listed companies.
- The agency says the move closes a loophole involving Huawei components.
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The case for
The FCC can argue that chips used to process camera data may create security risks even when sold inside another company’s device, and that face detection and surveillance uses heighten the sensitivity of the information involved. Extending restrictions to components from a company already designated a national security threat could close a route around existing controls and help protect users and critical infrastructure.
The case against
Critics can argue that blocking devices based on a component’s maker and potential uses, without clear public evidence of a specific threat or explanation of which products are affected, risks sweeping restrictions that are hard to scrutinise. They may also question whether the FCC’s new authority is sufficiently bounded and consistently enforceable, given the costs to device makers and consumers and the possibility of excluding products without demonstrating their actual risk.
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Originally published by The Verge as “The FCC is beginning to block gadgets with ‘foreign surveillance chips’”.