The CCP is against America and against God. The last thing we need is for them to have access to our data.

From American Mind. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo recently sounded the alarm on China, warning that the Communist nation poses a significant threat to U.S. national security. She’s right. And of all the security threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the country’s unrelenting harvesting of data is perhaps the biggest. …

View Comments (4)

Connect with others in your state in prayer.

Headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong, Haier Group Corporation entered the U.S. market in 1999. Initially focused on manufacturing and distributing two rather niche products—compact refrigerators and electric wine cellars—as profits grew, so did Haier’s vision for the future. In June 2016, Haier made headlines when it purchased GE Appliances, an American home appliance manufacturer based in Louisville, Kentucky, for $5.4 billion. …

According to Aynne Kokas in her brilliant new book, Trafficking Data, Haier’s acquisition of GE Appliances, which now makes it “the world’s largest consumer appliance company,” “specifically targeted growth through the IoT.” For the uninitiated, IoT refers to the Internet of Things, a network of physical objects or “things” that communicate with each other via embedded sensors and software. IoT is fast becoming the central nervous system of our tech-fueled world. …

Over the past few years Haier has created an entire line of IoT, or “smart,” appliances including smart ovens, smart microwaves, and smart refrigerators. As I have discussed elsewhere, in the world of tech, “smart” is simply a synonym for surveillance. Smart devices connect to various apps and other devices through a wireless connection, which makes them ripe for hacking. …

As Kokas notes, “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.” …

Haier has partnered with the search engine Baidu, China’s answer to Google, a problematic company that has intimate connections with the CCP. As Kokas demonstrates, Haier has already used Baidu’s services to store data for the U+ Connect platform. This means that GE appliances have been integrated into the CCP’s comprehensive data storage system. …

In China, unsurprisingly, there’s no such thing as a private company. To think that … Haier—or any other Chinese company—is acting independently, entirely free from the omnipresent glare of the CCP, requires a complete suspension of disbelief. If it’s an app or a smart device and it has links to China, chances are you’re being monitored and mined for data. …

How are you praying about the influence and activities of the CCP? Share this article to keep people informed.

(Excerpt from American Mind. Photo Credit: Yan Ke on Unsplash)