In 2016, Haier, a Chinese multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company, purchased GE Appliances for $5.4 billion, creating a consumer products mega-conglomerate that actively spies on customers via their "smart" appliances and relays all that data back to communist China.
United States Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned recently that the Haier-GE consumer products empire is a major threat to Americans. Now the world's largest consumer appliance company, Haier "specifically targeted growth through the IoT," writes Aynne Kokas in her book Trafficking Data.
IoT, by the way, stands for the Internet of Things. It represents a network of physical objects or "things" that are connected to one another via embedded sensors and software. These devices also communicate with one another via the internet, hence why they have been dubbed "smart."
In our increasingly tech-fueled world, IoT is fast becoming the central nervous system of the global economy. Just this year alone, IoT devices have generated global revenues of nearly $20 billion, which represents a 13 percent increase compared to 2021.
China is leading the way in linking just about everything to the IoT. And now with these strategic inroads into the U.S. economy via GE and other companies that have been absorbed by Chinese entities, America is becoming even more saturated with this IoT invasion.
"IoT devices pose a genuine threat to users' safety," writes John Mac Ghlionn for The American Mind. (Related: Surrounding yourself with smart gadgets that control your life is a recipe for disaster.)
"That's because they create numerous bridges between insecure networks and insecure devices, allowing hackers to gain control of people's digital devices and wreak havoc. Devices can easily be hijacked, allowing bad actors to eavesdrop on unsuspecting users."
IoT and "smart" appliances are all about surveillance and data collection
In recent years, Haier has unveiled an extensive line of IoT "smart" appliances ranging from microwaves and ovens to refrigerators and toasters. All of these items keep tabs on the consumers who bought them and communicate back to the mother ship.
"Haier has foregrounded the development of its new proprietary platform for its IoT, the U+ Connect platform, which collects data through all connected GE Appliances and Haier products," Kokas explains in her book, noting that this platform leverages a Chinese firm that is "subject to the data localization requirements of China's 2017 Cybersecurity Law."
Haier is also tied to Baidu, the Chinese version of Google (since Google is banned there). Baidu is closely tied to the CCP and Haier is using it to store data for the U+ Connect platform, which also integrates GE appliances as well.
According to Kokas, Haier's data-collecting devices "operate on a Chinese consumer platform that reports back to data centers in China." And just what kind of data is sent there? Information about what American consumers are talking about is one thing, along with what they are browsing on the internet and even the passwords that are stored on their devices.
It is a total invasion of privacy happening under the guise of "smart" living, which is perhaps the biggest deception of our time. Consumers have been led to believe that the "smart" thing to do is to install these spying devices in their homes while paying extra for that "luxury."
"Although it has been said many times before, it's worth repeating: data is the new oil," warns Ghlionn.
"China has identified a multitude of ways to steal data from unsuspecting Americans. TikTok, a Trojan horse for the CCP, is perhaps the most obvious example. A glorified data-harvesting app, TikTok has a staggering 1.5 billion?users?worldwide, and an estimated?80 million?of these users live in the U.S. The data accumulated?can be accessed?by employees in China. And if it can be accessed by them, it can be accessed by the CCP."
More related news about communist China can be found at Communism.news.
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