Thiruvananthapuram, March 13 (Representative) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has urged the Union Government to ban the use of Chinese CCTV cameras in India alleging that it can send data to external devices causing threat to national security. “In the absence of data protection laws or monitoring mechanisms, data or information obtained through such CCTV systems can be easily transferred anywhere in the world,” CAIT National Secretary SS Manoj said in a press release here on Sunday. “It is important to note that Internet Protocol (IP) cameras are used in CCTV networks and Internet Operated Digital Video Recording (DVR) of CCTV systems can be changed at any time to the desired level,” he added.
So, the use of Chinese CCTVs should be banned like the ban on Chinese apps earlier, he pointed out.Saying that CCTV cameras of Chinese origin, controlled or partially owned by the Chinese government, are believed to be widely used in India, he said countries such as United States, Australia and United Kingdom have banned the use of Chinese CCTVs in areas related to national security.He also said a national meeting of CAIT has submitted a memorandum on the issue to the Union IT Minister expressing concern on the use of Chinese CCTVs and its ban in India. He also urged the Centre to encourage the manufacture of CCTVs in India and bring in a Data Protection Act to protect the data. The meeting also demanded a National Retail Trade Policy to protect the interest of small traders in the country, he added.