FB pixel

China still finding outstretched Canadian palms when it comes to biometrics research

 

voice-biometrics

Canadian researchers are reportedly working with Chinese researchers tainted by military and government-repression campaigns.

Coverage by The Globe and Mail, Canada’s most widely read daily newspaper, indicates that two universities in Ontario have taken modest research grants from a Chinese voice biometrics company that is owned in part by the autocratic government.

Voice recognition in the wrong government hands can be an efficient tool to monitor political sentiment and identify dissidents.

IFlytek, the company in question, generally is considered a significant player in Beijing’s campaign to deculture China’s Muslim Uyghurs. The Uyghurs — perhaps a million of whom have been imprisoned in remote re-education camps — are viewed as a challenge to political orthodoxy and control.

Essentially, they have not assimilated sufficiently for government comfort, particularly after the spectacular rise in global terrorism culminating September 11, 2001, carried out by Muslim zealots against perceived Western cultural imperialism.

According to The Globe and Mail, iFlytek gave York University $1.5 million (US$1.24 million) in 2015 for the creation of the iFlytek Laboratory for Neural Computing and Machine Learning. For the grant, the biometrics firm also was given a chair at the Lassonde School of Engineering.

One professor at the laboratory allegedly works with China’s National University of Defence Technology, which for all intents and purposes is a part of the Chinese Communist Party.

IFlytek also awarded $727,000 in 2019 to Queen’s University to create learning models that detect and process speech.

The U.S. federal and state governments have become more aggressive in punishing Beijing for its treatment of the Uyghurs.

York and Queen’s are two of a shadowy network of universities in Canada and elsewhere ignoring government qualms about taking money and teaming with Chinese biometrics specialists. The University of Alberta is another.

A spokesman for York university reportedly defended its acceptance of money with iFlytek and working with its scientists on new technology by saying the work was completed in 2020, and that all intellectual property resulting from the grant is in the public domain.

A Queen’s spokesman took a similar tack, saying the work is “essentially” done, according to the article. He also said trans-national research is important for science and for Queen’s.

He went on to say, however, that school administrators would work with Canada’s federal government to make sure researchers can work with Chinese counterparts and companies “safely,” according to the article.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Malta’s 2025 budget previews tender for digital ID wallet

Malta has presented its new budget for the year 2025, announcing investments into digital identity, a new central data repository…

 

Tech5 launches law enforcement biometrics software suite

A platform introduced by Tech5 brings the company’s face and fingerprint biometrics to a new market: police forces and law…

 

Meta announces new age-checking measures for young Instagram users

Meta is trying to relieve pressure from lawmakers to protect teenage users from harmful content by making it much harder…

 

Peripheral biometric scanner for palm, fingerprints wins French defense award

An Idemia Public Security partnership, the company’s NéoDK project in collaboration with Colonel Nicolas Thiburce, has been awarded the Prix…

 

Canada planning immigration biometrics contract worth up to $72M

Canada is preparing to hold an open bidding process to procure biometric identification equipment to support its immigration system. The…

 

Passkey adoption high among young users tired of endless GyF5*$%uu27

While passwords may hang on until the last possible asterisk, a new study from the FIDO Alliance tells a truth…

Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most Read This Week

Featured Company

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events