FCC bans two devices with surveillance chips linked to Huawei

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday said it won’t let devices made with surveillance chips manufactured by a Chinese tech firm enter the U.S. market, the first instance of such a ban following the agency’s implementation of tough new rules.

The banned items — a wireless video transmitter and dashboard camera — are made with chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon, which markets its products as “designed for the surveillance market” with “[b]uilt in detection algorithms for human faces,” the FCC said.

New rules took effect on October 13 that bans devices containing smart components made by companies on a so-called covered list, an official public directory the agency maintains under a 2019 regulation identifying video surveillance, communications and general technology products believed to threaten national security. HiSilicon was included on the list.

Before the new regulations were implemented, agency rules did not ban “otherwise lawful devices” from including component parts manufactured by covered list entities, the press release said.

“The FCC will continue to act with vigilance in protecting and promoting America’s national security,” Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement that called the products potential spyware. “Video devices containing surveillance chips produced by Covered List entities pose an obvious and unacceptable risk to the nation and our people.”

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.