US company to stop selling China equipment to build Uighur DNA database
Source: Agence France-Presse
An American biotechnology company has announced it will stop selling to China equipment used to create a DNA database of the countrys Uighur minority.
Thermo Fisher issued a statement on Thursday following a report in the New York Times which noted the help of American expertise in Chinas campaign of surveillance.
As the world leader in serving science, we recognize the importance of considering how our products and services are used or may be used by our customers, a company spokesperson said.
Despite its low profile, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher is a major player in the scientific equipment market and has $24bn worth of revenue a year.
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Agence France-Presse
Fri 22 Feb 2019 06.45 GMT
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/22/us-company-to-stop-selling-china-equipment-to-build-uighur-dna-database
The New York Times article mentioned: China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise
Subtitled: The Chinese authorities turned to a Massachusetts company and a prominent Yale researcher as they built an enormous system of surveillance and control.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,994 posts)oldsoftie
(12,531 posts)dalton99a
(81,451 posts)Yeah, it's free - and mandatory
This is Orwellian on a hitherto unknown scale
Firestorm49
(4,032 posts)Cameras at intersections, buildings, and on and on. It may seem innocuous enough right now, but at some point, as it may (has) have been designed for, it can be used to control crowd size, regulate movement, etc.
We may view cameras everywhere as a deterrent to crime, or a source to identify the less scrupulous among us, but the adverse potential, to be realized years down the road, may be more for the worse than the better.,