How Cisco Helped Implement the CCP’s Public Surveillance

(Minghui.org) I worked in a telecommunications company after I graduated from college and before I left China. I read about Falun Gong practitioners’ lawsuit against Cisco, and I’d like to share what I know about how Cisco assisted the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in implementing public surveillance.

I worked in the Customer Service Department of my company around 2021. One of our duties was to install and service terminal equipment. One day, I was told to go to a meeting with a manufacturer’s representatives. Two product managers from Cisco were there, and they introduced the coverage scheme of their indoor routers.

They used a case in Beijing to highlight the benefits of their product. They told us that Cisco was the contractor that provided Wi-Fi coverage for the Olympic Games facilities, and used a certain number of wireless access points to achieve a certain speed and result. The most notable feature was its surveillance function. They could pinpoint any user who sent sensitive information within one minute. During the Olympic Games in 2008, some sensitive information was detected while an event was held. They quickly pinpointed the sender and identified where he was sitting. The sender was later verified as a reporter from a Western media, who sent a report which contained sensitive information.

According to the product managers, it was accomplished with the directional capability of different access points. In other words, two access points simultaneously provided Wi-Fi signals to each user. The user was located by finding the intersection of the two directions. They said this was a special service Cisco provided to meet the needs of the Golden Shield Project, which is the CCP’s Internet network firewall.

The CCP carried out its persecution of Falun Gong using its control over telecommunications. The company I worked for has a special team in the Operations Department, called the “Core Team.” The prerequisites include being in good political standing in addition to having excellent technical skills. Members of the Core Team often work with the CCP’s public security organs to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. The Public Security Bureau also has dedicated lines to connect with the server rooms of all the network operators, as well as dedicated technical employees to carry out the monitoring.

One of my former classmates used to practice Falun Gong, but stopped after the persecution began in 1999. We saw each other at our class reunion twenty years after we graduated. He told me he may have been involved in capturing Falun Gong practitioners who intercepted the TV signals in Changchun. As the only college graduate in his company’s branch in Yushu County, he was the technical backbone.

His boss told him to go to a meeting one day. The attendees were all police officers. Their cell phones were taken from them and they were brought to an isolated hotel room which was filled with equipment. They were told their job was to track down fugitives.

This happened right after Falun Gong practitioners tapped into the state cable television broadcast network. A large number of Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Changchun and surrounding cities. My classmate said they captured Falun Gong practitioners by tracking their cell phone signals.