Minister Šťastný's recorder, lost in the government meeting room, turns out to be made by a Chinese company

The smart recording device Plaud, found in the negotiation room of the Czech government and belonging to Motorists party minister Petr Šťastný, is manufactured by Shenzhen Smart Connect Technology of China — despite being marketed on its website as a product of an American startup. According to cybersecurity experts, the device poses a threat in the hands of a government member, since Chinese companies are legally obliged to cooperate with the country's intelligence services.

A journalistic investigation has found that, half a year after the recorder was discovered in the cabinet meeting room, the minister tried to downplay the significance of the find. "It's just my regular AI recorder that I use to transcribe my notes and speeches," Šťastný said, adding that he bought the device and "lost it somewhere a couple of months ago."

Meanwhile, three separate sources among security experts consider the use of such a device by a government official a serious risk. "From an information security standpoint, this is a huge failure," one specialist said. "But I doubt it will be investigated in any way," he added.

Experts' concerns stem from the fact that under Chinese law, all companies in the country are required to cooperate with the intelligence services of the Communist Party. Last year, the Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency already issued a general warning against Chinese-made devices.

"For example, the 2017 National Intelligence Law states that every citizen and organization must support national intelligence work, provide assistance and cooperation, and keep secret any information they learn in connection with intelligence activities," Czech cybersecurity experts have previously explained. In response to these risks, the Czech army this year restricted the entry of Chinese-made vehicles onto its premises.

Minister Šťastný, however, does not believe Chinese intelligence could obtain information through the recording device he carries at all times. He said the automatic transcription of recordings helps him due to his vision problems. "Most electronic devices or their components that we all use are made in China. Mobile phones, voice recorders, TVs, most household electronics, and parts in my car," he explained.

Unlike Western firms that merely outsource manufacturing to China, Plaud's entire cycle — from hardware to the servers where Šťastný's recordings are uploaded — is controlled by a Chinese manufacturer subject to local law. Yet the company presents itself on its website as an American firm with a legal address in the tax haven of Delaware and headquarters in San Francisco. However, registration documents used by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve the device list Shenzhen Smart Connect Technology as the manufacturer.

The same Shenzhen-based company filed the US trademark application for Plaud, holds the device's patents in China, and sells it there directly without any American intermediary. Chinese media have repeatedly hailed Plaud as the overseas success story of a local "serial entrepreneur" named Xu Gao, the man behind Smart Connect Technology, who represents the American Plaud company under the name Nathan Xu.

Sinologist Zuzana Kovačová, head of the Red Watch program at the Center for Security "European Values," confirmed: "According to public sources, the AI tool Plaud is indeed backed by Shenzhen Smart Connect Technology, registered in the city of Shenzhen, China. As such, it is also subject to Chinese law."

Experts point out that if Chinese authorities demand cooperation and company employees refuse, they face draconian punishments — no one is untouchable. Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the man behind the internet giant Alibaba, disappeared for several months in 2020 after publicly criticizing Chinese authorities. China also pursues its own citizens abroad, even setting up illegal police stations, or pressures their relatives back home.

Šťastný downplays the situation by noting that he did not record the cabinet meeting itself, and claims he never enters any classified information into Plaud, publishing everything he records afterward. According to him, the NÚKIB warning does not apply to his use of the recorder in this case. This claim, however, cannot be verified.

As previously reported, in the six months since the device was found in the room where secret matters are also discussed, the head of the government office, Tünde Bartha, never reported the find as a security incident to the police unit guarding Strakova Academy (the seat of the Czech government). The intelligence services were not informed either. As a result, no forensic analysis of the device's memory was ever conducted — an analysis that experts say could have revealed exactly what it recorded. Director Tünde Bartha did not respond to a question about why her office failed to check whether the found device had recorded a classified cabinet meeting.

Czech security services no longer have any chance to examine the find: Šťastný confirmed to journalists that the government office returned the device to him after he presented a purchase receipt. The minister even said he was glad to now have two recorders — he bought a second one while unable to find the first — "one will stay at home, the other in the office."

"Of course, the NÚKIB warning shouldn't be taken lightly. That's true. But I'll say it again: what I use contains nothing secret," the minister said. At the same time, he admitted he doesn't actually know what information might interest the Chinese state: "I don't know what would be of interest to the Chinese state. I suppose one should ask some experts."

It has previously been reported that China actively gathers information in the Czech Republic that isn't formally classified as "secret." In January, police charged Yang Yiming, the Prague correspondent for the Chinese Communist Party newspaper Guangming Daily, with espionage. Yang had met with pro-Russian and pro-Chinese politicians, including Motorists party foreign policy expert Jan Zahradil, and published interviews with them. Due to the Yang Yiming case, the Czech government is now under close scrutiny from Chinese intelligence services, which are trying to secure his release — a Czech entrepreneur is currently detained in China, and Czech intelligence services are considering a possible exchange.

This is far from the only espionage incident linked to China. Back in 2020, hackers revealed that a company connected to the Chinese People's Liberation Army had been collecting online profiles of hundreds of prominent Czechs and other Western figures — from ministers and their children to police officers. And in 2022, Chinese hackers breached the email accounts of the Czech Foreign Ministry and reportedly read unclassified but potentially blackmail-worthy correspondence for two years.

The Czech National Security Authority (NBÚ), responsible for protecting classified information, told journalists it has no information about any violation of rules in Minister Šťastný's case. "In general, whenever there is a suspicion of a breach in the protection of classified information, the authority always takes steps to objectively clarify the circumstances," said NBÚ spokesman Milan Radosta, without elaborating.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz