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Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is launching a new wave of litigation against companies she says have concealed ties to the Chinese government.
Bird has filed lawsuits against networking and Smart Home manufacturer TP-Link and security camera company ADI Global and suggests more filings are planned in the coming week against "China-aligned entities." Both companies, she alleges, have violated the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act by misleading customers about the safety of their data.
“Iowans’ sensitive data and our national security is at risk because of TP-Link and their connection to the communist Chinese government,” Bird said in a statement. “TP-Link tells Iowans its routers are safe, our personal data is secure, and that they have no ties to China. They are not telling the truth. It’s time to hold China and China-backed companies accountable.”
According to Bird, TP-Link's routers are manufactured in Vietnam, but nearly all components, research and development comes from China, "using firmware that gives the Communist Chinese government access to Iowans' devices and data."
ADI, meanwhile, is accused of selling cameras manufactured by Chinese companies on national security watchlists, even switching labels to conceal the products' origins.
"These China-made cameras are making Iowans' private information – everything from where each room is in your home, who lives there, your routine, and even passwords – available to the Chinese government and military," Bird said.
The lawsuits, filed in Polk County, are part of a coordinated multistate push, with at least Florida, Nebraska and Montana also filing lawsuits against TP-Link. In a press release, the company said the lawsuits are based on "false premises" and that the company is not owned or controlled by any foreign government.
"We stand fully behind the security of our products, the integrity of our company and our people, and our commitment to serving the best interests of our customers in the United States and globally," TP-Link spokesman Steve Kovsky said. "We look forward to refuting these baseless allegations in court."
The Register has reached out to ADI Global for comment.
The TP-Link and ADI lawsuits were announced Oct. 6 and Oct. 7, respectively. Bird also joined a coalition of Republican attorneys general Oct. 8 to call on the National Judicial College to distance itself from an environmentalist group they allege also has links to China. The Nevada-based college bills itself as "the nation's leading provider of judicial education."