Letter from BSCC to Hikvision 18 March 2022 (accessible)
Updated 15 November 2023
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Justin Hollis
Marketing Director Hikvision UK & Ireland
By e-mail
18th March 2022
Re: Surveillance-Enabled Human Rights Atrocities
Dear Justin
Further to my recent correspondence regarding my attendance at the CCTV User Group event next month, I was advised by the conference organisers that they had withdrawn your invitation and that you would no longer be presenting or advertising your products there. I noted that Hikvision had been removed from the conference website and programme.
I gather this decision has subsequently been reversed in order to allow you to address my questions.
Having noted the content of your letter of 16 March 2022, I am bound to say that I cannot see how the questions that I have asked of you might even remotely engage matters of commercial confidentiality; I do however understand that you might not find yourself in a position to answer them. Should this situation change, I will readily meet with you once you have answered the questions, and we can then discuss our respective responsibilities and expectations in ensuring the ethical and accountable development of public space surveillance.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Fraser Sampson
Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner