A front-page Wall Street Journal feature I worked on won a Gerald Loeb award and resulted in the US military banning Hikvision from its networks.
I have published major scoops about Verkada, a Sequoia-backed surveillance unicorn in Silicon Valley:
- Verkada fired 3 employees and reformed its sexual harassment policies after I investigated its ‘Frat Boy culture’. This was covered by Vice and The Verge.
- Verkada also had serious cybersecurity issues, I exclusively reported based on a top-level source. Picked up by Bloomberg and The Washington Post.
- The FTC fined Verkada ~$3m over marketing tactics I first exposed.
My reporting has resulted in US sanctions against four of the world’s largest AI surveillance companies:
- China’s largest AI company, SenseTime, was blacklisted for human rights abuses by the US after I found ‘Uyghur alarm’ tech in one of its patents. The sanctions delayed SenseTime’s high-profile IPO. The BBC covered this.
- Hikvision & Dahua, the world’s two largest surveillance makers, were sanctioned by the US over Xinjiang deals I exposed in Foreign Policy & IPVM.
- Tiandy, a large PRC security manufacturer and ex-Intel partner, was sanctioned by the US after I exposed its extensive ties to Iran and its military.
I have a strong record of covering national security, defense, and cyber:
- Huawei showcased its deep admiration of the People’s Liberation Army in a 2023 conferenced (covered by National Review).
- Hikvision works closely with the PLA (covered by the Wall Street Journal).
- SSD Secure Disclosure, a zero-day broker founded by a Unit 8200 alum, quietly sells early access to critical vulnerabilities in major tech companies’ products to unknown actors, I revealed.
- Denmark’s national intelligence agency warned police against installing PRC video surveillance systems, according to a letter I obtained.
AI ethics is a field I’ve also covered and have a strong interest in:
- A PRC academic left Australia for the PRC after his AI research into Uyghur facial features was found to have breached ethical standards.
I have revealed unethical practices at large social media firms like TikTok and Telegram:
- Telegram is rife with channels promoting child pornography hacked off residential security cameras, I revealed. Telegram deleted numerous channels and the camera manufacturer overhauled its security in response.
- TikTok’s sister company strictly censors LGBTQ content, deleting an image of two men kissing for promoting “non-mainstream views on marriage and love”, I revealed in an article cited by US Congress‘ top China commission.
I have also investigated the ties of Big Tech firms like Amazon, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Airbnb to human rights abuses:
- NVIDIA chips are being used for discriminatory police surveillance, I exclusively reported. NVIDIA said it would review its compliance.
- Two US Senators sent a letter to Amazon after I found a supplier selling ‘Uyghur warnings’ to Chinese police. Co-reported with The LA Times.
- Airbnb quietly allowed its China hosts to ban Uyghur guests for years, I revealed for WIRED. Airbnb later banned this.
- A top Microsoft researcher traveled to Xinjiang to give a keynote speech about facial recognition amid a massive crackdown there, I reported.
I have produced major scoops about some of the PRC’s largest companies, such as Alibaba and DJI (the world’s largest dronemaker):
- DJI received PRC government funding despite publicly touting the opposite, I revealed in an investigation covered by The Washington Post. This was cited by US Congress members in their proposed ban of the company.
- Alibaba admitted it offered racist ethnicity detection software & apologized after I revealed this with The New York Times.
- IBM shut down its AI video analytics program in 2019 amid rights concerns, I exclusively reported.
I have reported extensively about the activities of Hikvision, the world’s largest security camera manufacturer:
- Hikvision’s top compliance lawyer admitted the firm signed discriminatory police projects, according to a secret speech I obtained. Covered by Axios and The Intercept.
- Hikvision won a contract to predict the likelihood of protestors entering Beijing, I revealed in an article covered by an award-winning New York Times feature, How China Is Policing the Future.
- Hikvision won a ‘smart campus’ project in China that automatically sends an alert on ethnic minority students suspected of fasting during Ramadan, I revealed in an investigation covered by Semafor.
US Congress repeatedly cited my work on AI surveillance tech in the PRC:
- I was cited numerous times in a Congressional report about US VC funding into rights-abusing PRC startups. For example, I was the first to detail Sequoia Capital‘s investments into a US-sanctioned firm called DeepGlint.
- I am also regularly cited by the US’ top Congressional China Committee, with 2023’s report citing my work almost two dozen times.
