{"id":79461,"date":"2024-02-29T17:44:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T17:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/surveillance-cameras-banned-by-the-usa-are-in-use-in-these-norwegian-municipalities-news-vestland\/"},"modified":"2024-02-29T17:44:08","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T17:44:08","slug":"surveillance-cameras-banned-by-the-usa-are-in-use-in-these-norwegian-municipalities-news-vestland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/surveillance-cameras-banned-by-the-usa-are-in-use-in-these-norwegian-municipalities-news-vestland\/","title":{"rendered":"Surveillance cameras banned by the USA are in use in these Norwegian municipalities – news Vestland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In an ice rink in Bergen, a group of young people practice figure skating. There are echoes from Disney songs and ice skates whipping against the ice. On the side of the commentator’s box, almost all the way up in the ceiling, hangs a black dome with three camera lenses that can move and zoom in. This is a smart camera made by the Chinese company Hikvision. – It is a huge advantage to have it. It’s fun for the kids. They can see each other afterwards in a match situation, says the coach for the under-16 hockey team, who is among the subscribers. This is how it looks in the municipalities It is not just sports that find the cameras useful. They are legal to use both publicly and privately in Norway, and the camera is widely available on the market. A few weeks ago Bergens Tidende revealed that, among others, Bergen library and Finn\u00f8y library in Stavanger use cameras from the Chinese manufacturer. An news survey shows that the real extent is greater. No less than 128 municipalities in Norway have them, either under the authority of the municipality or private sports halls. Four municipalities have previously had the camera, and 169 have not. The rest have not responded to news’s \u200b\u200binquiries, or had a camera installed by the streaming company MyGame. Use the search field in the left-hand corner to find your municipality, and get an overview of where the cameras are located: How many cameras there are in each place varies greatly. In Ullensaker municipality, a short distance from Oslo airport Gardermoen, the cameras are close together. The municipality has placed them in 25 places. Neighboring municipality Nes confirms to news that they also have Hikvision cameras, but will not say where or how many. Say the videos don’t end up in China Some states have banned the use of cameras from Hikvision and Dahua because they believe the products pose a risk to national security. Others, such as the European Parliament, boycott all equipment from China. But Hikvision believes there is no need to worry. – In Norway and other foreign markets, our customers are distributors, safety integrators and installers, not the user, writes a spokesperson to news. The camera in Bergenshallen is the result of an agreement between MyGame and Bergen Ice Hockey Club. Photo: Oda Eggesb\u00f8 Ottesen \/ news He says they therefore cannot transfer the information to third parties. The company confirms that it has previously had a function “that recognizes minorities”, in response to allegations reported in, among others, The Guardian that the equipment has been used to suppress Uyghurs in China. According to the company, this function was phased out in 2018. A spokesperson for Dahua Technology, which has also been banned by several countries, says in an email to news that the company “is neither owned nor controlled by any government”. The view from the technical room at \u00c5l cultural center. The camera itself is by Vivotek, a company in Taiwan. But they are connected to equipment from Hikvision. Photo: Terje Vester\u00f8y \/ \u00c5l kulturhus The company claims that it does not store the information of any of its users, and has cyber security as its “top priority, above all and always”. news has been in contact with the Chinese embassy about this matter, but has not yet succeeded in getting an answer. Phasing out at V\u00e6rnes has taken two years – Avinor decided in 2022, on the basis of the information that came to light, not to invest in or use surveillance cameras from Hikvision, Avinor’s director of technology, Lars V\u00e5gsdal, told news. Nevertheless, the cameras are still placed around one airport: Trondheim airport V\u00e6rnes. According to V\u00e5gsdal, all are to be removed before the end of the summer. Where they are and how many there are, they will not share for safety reasons. This hangs at the Sparebanken Vest Arena in N\u00e6rb\u00f8. In the BUL hall in Alta, an even closer one is coming. This hangs at Jar Isforum. Hikvision camera (h) at the Consto Arena in Mj\u00f8ndalen. Another one is installed in God\u00f8yhallen. Here in Stavanger sports hall .Here under the roof in Drammenshallen. The cameras at \u00c5l Kulturhus are manufactured by Vivotek, but connect to Hikvision equipment. This is one of three at Nordstrand Arena. And finally in H\u00f8nefoss Arena. – In the meantime, a technical safety analysis of the solution was carried out, and no technical vulnerabilities were discovered, he says. – None of the cameras in question are linked to external services. Cameras are also very widespread in Norwegian libraries. The company Bibliotekssystemer AS has supplied Hikvision cameras to dozens of municipalities in Norway, so that they can keep their libraries open longer without staff present. Now the company is in the process of finding a solution that can replace Hikvision’s, they write on their website. This is what Bibliotekssystemer AS says about its systems: “In recent weeks, we have received several messages from customers who have bought cameras from us in connection with, among other things, more calls. We have used cameras from Hikvision as these have been technically stable and reliable products, but we have of course also seen that this manufacturer is questioned in terms of safety and ethics. We have always had a good solution for safety, as the camera is in a closed net. This means that the camera is not accessible from the internet, at the same time as it is of course not possible to send information from the camera to the internet. We can therefore say with certainty that no information from the camera has gone astray. Although our solution with a camera from Hikvision is both reliable and stable, we have been looking at alternative products from other manufacturers for some time now, because the negative aspects of Hikvision’s products. We are of course aware that Hikvision is under sanctions from several countries, following allegations that the company has contributed to mass arrests of Uighurs in China, and that Amnesty believes Hikvision’s technology has been used in connection with human rights violations. It takes time to find good solutions for video surveillance that fit into our administration solution. We are in the final phase of testing this new solution now, and will offer it to existing and new customers within a short time.” This is what the authorities say The Norwegian state does not want Chinese technology to monitor its ministry buildings, and the Norwegian Defense Force does not use it on its facilities either. When it comes to the new government quarter, the Ministry of Digitization and Administration has not yet ruled out the use of cameras from Hikvision or Dahua. This also applies to public buildings managed by Statsbygg. – This is classified information, says department director Per-Eigil Schwab in an email to news. Korkje NSM, DFD or the Ministry of Justice will comment on what kind of surveillance equipment they have today. Photo: NTB In its annual risk assessment, the National Insurance Agency (NSM) warns that reasonable Chinese technology, such as video equipment, constitutes a risk. They believe that Norwegian companies that order in equipment must be aware of the dangers, and protect themselves against them. – Chinese legislation requires Chinese companies to hand over information to Chinese intelligence, and to report discovered vulnerabilities to the authorities, the report states. – It also opens the door for China to export technology with hidden back doors that can be used for intelligence operations. Hidden back doors are very demanding to uncover. Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl last answered questions about Hikvision cameras in the winter of 2023. Then she said that the technology was not in use in government ministry buildings. Photo: Lars Os Meiner The risk is greatest with Chinese systems Kjetil Stormark is a journalist at Politiforum, a long-standing defense journalist and editor of the online newspaper Aldrimer.no. – The risk is much greater with the Chinese system than with other countries’ systems, at least compared to countries that are closer to Norway, he says to news. He believes that cameras that Norwegian players get from Hikvision and Dahua may have “cloud solutions or back doors built into the system” which are difficult for the experts to uncover even for them. Stormark believes that Norway must set clearer rules that restrict the use of safety equipment supplied by countries such as China. Photo: Mona Myklebust \u2013 The greater the security importance of the business that uses Chinese equipment, the greater the risk exposure one exposes oneself to. – Airports and other businesses of this type should definitely not use security equipment from Chinese suppliers. Disagree that Chinese cameras are always unsafe Torgeir Waterhouse has worked with issues related to digital media for over 20 years, both at the Consumer Council and ICT Norway. Waterhouse believes that cameras from other parts of the world have exactly the same weaknesses for intruders as those from Dahua and Hikvision. He tells news that you cannot state that certain products are unsafe just because they come from China. – There is more of a philosophical and political difference than there is a technical difference, he says of the monitoring products on the market today. – When it becomes so specific, and applies to such a specific product, then someone must have done quite thorough work and documentation to be able to say whether this is possible. This documentation does not exist today, he says further. But sports clubs can rather choose to boycott all products that come from China, or get recommendations from the governing authorities in Norway about what equipment they should use. Does not rule out future use When the Norwegian Sports Confederation entered into an agreement to use Hikvision cameras for streaming sports matches, as VG reported last year, no external experts were brought in to assess the use. Instead, they used the streaming company MyGame’s information about the camera when they concluded that its use was safe in terms of security, the association told news. MyGame says they mainly install cameras from the Swedish manufacturer Spiideo today. Here is one of them installed at Stamnes Arena. Photo: Sandnessj\u00f8en Fotball MyGame, for its part, believes that the use is unproblematic, even though they have ended their agreement with Hikvision after the case came out. – Hikvision cameras are the most used security cameras in the world. They are fully legal in Norway, are used by both the public and private sector, and maintain a high technical quality. – It is quite possible that we will make use of this technology again in the future.
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