Amazon, Flipkart Launch Review of Unlicensed Security Camera Listings on India Platforms

Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart have begun checking security camera listings on their platforms in India after hundreds of unlicensed products were offered for sale despite strict government testing rules imposed six months ?ago amid concerns about espionage risks. 

The two e-commerce companies, which dominate online shopping in India, were reviewing internet-enabled surveillance cameras listed by third-party sellers and brands on their platforms after media discovered the listings, two people familiar with the checks said. Any without government approval would be removed, the people said.

Amazon, in an email, declined to



comment, while Flipkart did not respond to Reuters queries. From roads to homes, security cameras have become ubiquitous across India, fuelling an industry worth $4.4 billion, but unapproved sales online are a "serious concern", said Gulshan Rai, who was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cybersecurity chief from 2015 to 2019. "A compromised camera can become both a surveillance risk and a cybersecurity entry point," he told Media.

A media ?analysis this week found more than 700 of roughly 770 internet security camera listings on Amazon and Flipkart were for models that were not on the Bureau of Indian Standards' public database of approved brands or cameras.