Lawsuit: Ban Body Cams With Chinese Chips at Campaign Events

(Dreamstime)

A legal battle is brewing over the use of police body cameras at political events during the 2024 presidential campaign, with allegations that Chinese-made components in the devices could pose a national security threat, Politico reported.

A federal court is expediting a case that could lead to the ban of Axon’s Body 4 police cameras from political events during the 2024 presidential campaign.

The lawsuit, filed by law enforcement tech startup GovernmentGPT, claims that the cameras’ use of chips from the Chinese company Quectel could expose sensitive information to foreign adversaries. The lawsuit seeks to prevent the cameras’ deployment at high-profile events like the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and underscores growing concerns over the potential for Chinese espionage.

The suit, filed on July 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, argues that the Quectel chips used in Axon’s cameras allow for real-time surveillance, GPS tracking, and data interception. GovernmentGPT requested an emergency motion to ban these cameras from all political events related to the 2024 presidential election cycle.

Axon, the largest supplier of police body cameras in the United States, has denied the allegations.

In its Aug. 7 legal filing, the company stated that it had thoroughly vetted Quectel’s technology. It ensured that no data recorded by the Axon Body 4 cameras was stored on or transmitted to Quectel’s servers.

Quectel’s head of communications, Phil Rawcliffe, also refuted the claims, asserting that the company’s chips do not collect data and do not pose a national security risk.

“Quectel’s customers own and control all data flowing through their devices and all updates to their devices,” he said in an emailed statement.

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich scheduled a status conference to discuss the case on Tuesday. While the court has not yet found evidence of an immediate threat, the expedited handling of the case suggests the urgency of the matter, particularly as the DNC approaches.

The convention, set to begin Monday in Chicago, will see the use of Axon body cameras by local police. However, whether the contested Body 4 model will be deployed is unclear.

The lawsuit also accuses Axon of anti-competitive practices, claiming that the company’s body cameras are incompatible with third-party file management systems, effectively locking out competitors like GovernmentGPT. Microsoft, which hosts Axon’s body cam footage on its Azure servers, is also named in the lawsuit for allegedly charging inflated storage fees.

GovernmentGPT has further argued that using Axon’s Body 4 cameras at politically sensitive events without addressing the potential security risks constitutes a significant threat to national security. This concern echoes warnings from members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, who have previously urged the Biden administration to blacklist Quectel on national security grounds.

In January, committee leaders worked to list Quectel as a “Chinese Military Company,” which would restrict Americans from investing in it.

“Whether in body cameras or home appliances, Chinese-made IOT devices in the U.S. pose a threat to the privacy and security of Americans,” a committee spokesperson said in a statement.