‘Only to stop indoor smoking’: Chinese firm comes under fire for allegedly installing surveillance cameras in toilet cubicles

‘Only to stop indoor smoking’: Chinese firm comes under fire for allegedly installing surveillance cameras in toilet cubicles

A company within southeastern China offers denied that it set up surveillance cameras in the employee toilets in order to if workers had been violating its non-smoking policy after alleged pictures went viral earlier this month.

Facing severe criticism online, the particular subsidiary of state-owned battery manufacturer, China and taiwan Aviation Lithium Battery, in Xiamen, Fujian province denied the presence of the cameras and said it experienced called the police.

Three photographs, allegedly associated with employees hiding in toilet cubicles to smoke on separate occasions, were reportedly contributed internally and then leaked online, where they will went viral, based on mainland Chinese information company Red Celebrity News.

A viral image shows a surveillance camera catching three men smoking in a toilet. Photo: Baidu

The three males were photographed sitting down on a toilet while cigarette smoking and taking advantage of their mobile phones, and the company reportedly used images to warn other employees regarding violating company guidelines, according to an internal document that emerged on mainland Chinese social media last week.

The photos sparked severe privacy concerns on the internet, with many people saying it was another sort of overzealous surveillance in China.

“The company should be punished for abusing monitoring cameras, ” a single commenter wrote.

Another asked: “Don’t they know there are devices called smoke detectors that are useful for catching smokers? ”

Along with the photos, the battery organization allegedly publicised every man’s punishment – two were terminated, while one obtained his monthly reward cancelled and an official warning.

It said that the workers had “crossed a line” and therefore deserved “serious penalties”, without having specifying which principle they breached.

A staff member informed Red Star Information that the surveillance digital cameras were installed recording to catch indoor-smoking violators.

“The cameras will definitely catch private moments, but frankly speaking, the policy has advantages and disadvantages, ” he stated, responding to public critique that the cameras infringed on personal privacy.

Just 8 weeks ago, a technologies company in Shenzhen also landed within hot water for setting up a surveillance digital camera on top of each workstation in its office. The firm later looked after its decision and said it was looking to stop confidential info from leaking due to the fact its employees focus on developing online games.

China has the world’s largest surveillance network , but there has been pushback in recent years as the open public has become more conscious of the sheer amount of cameras.

Over half of the world’s surveillance cameras had been located in China in 2019, according to a written report from industry researcher IHS Markit from that year.

In 2020, several artists in Beijing tried to move around the city while evading monitoring cameras to bring attention to their presence and found themselves having to engage in increasingly ridiculous movements to avoid catching the eye of the CCTVs. – South China Morning Post