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Huawei Commits To Bringing Its Products To the US Despite Government Security Concerns (phonedog.com)

Within the last few months, AT&T and Verizon have reportedly decided not to sell Huawei's flagship smartphone due to pressure from the U.S. government, with Best Buy opting to stop offering all Huawei products. Despite all of this, though, the company isn't giving up its U.S. ambitions. PhoneDog reports: Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's consumer business group, says that Huawei will continue working to establish itself in the U.S. and earn consumers' trust. Yu's statement to CNET: "We are committed to the U.S. market and to earning the trust of U.S. consumers by staying focused on delivering world-class products and innovation. We would never compromise that trust." Yu went on to say that the security concerns that the U.S. government has about Huawei are "based on groundless suspicions and are quite frankly unfair." He added that Huawei is open having a discussion with the heads of the CIA, FBI, and NSA so long as it is based on facts.

20 of 40 comments (clear)

  1. Only the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Gets to spy on all your communications.

    1. Re: Only the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'd rather be spied on foreignly than domestic any day.

    2. Re: Only the US by dryriver · · Score: 1

      If you were working on any kind of tech, software or invention that you intend to commercialize at some point, which country's spying would be worse for you? The Chinese would have 5 different clones of your invention on the market before you know its even happening, and good luck getting Chinese courts to stop the illicit cloning/theft of your IP when you DO have certainty that it has been stolen.

      --
      Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
    3. Re: Only the US by gravewax · · Score: 1

      I don't want anyone actually spying on me, but I would take a foreign country spying on me over my local one any day. Hence why I use a VPN from Australia.

    4. Re: Only the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Foreign won't prosecute my curiosity and thought crimes, but domestic might.

  2. A Country That Doesn't Trust Its Own Citizens... by dryriver · · Score: 2

    ...expects other countries to put blind trust in its products? Trust us, we'd never lie to you? I for one have never seen any instance of any left-over communist country admitting to any kind of wrongdoing or taking responsibility for any of its questionnable actions at all. What's going to happen when Huawei products do something bad? Oh - of course its all lies, and "we'd never do anything like that".

    --
    Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
  3. Re:Only path forward - OPEN SOURCE by dryriver · · Score: 1

    OPEN SOCIETY would also be nice.

    --
    Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
  4. Don't spy on me! by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    Unless you want to sell my information for marketing research and advertisement, then that's OK. (apparently)

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  5. It doesn't matter if you trust Huawei by taustin · · Score: 2

    As long as the people who run the company are subject to the laws of China, they will do what the government of China tells them to. This includes updates that spy on users, and lying about it.

    And the government of China cannot be trusted.

    1. Re:It doesn't matter if you trust Huawei by dryriver · · Score: 1

      +1

      --
      Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
    2. Re:It doesn't matter if you trust Huawei by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >And the government of China cannot be trusted.

      Does it really matter that China's government can't be trusted, if our own is in that same basket of deplorables?

    3. Re:It doesn't matter if you trust Huawei by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >And the government of China cannot be trusted.

      Does it really matter that China's government can't be trusted, if our own is in that same basket of deplorables?

      Yes, because it all comes down to where you live and whether you mind them spying on you.
      I don't work on anything sensitive, so I'd rather the Chinese spy on me than my own agencies.

      Let's just hope that this isn't a setup for Huawei to sign spying agreements with our agencies.

  6. Re:A Country That Doesn't Trust Its Own Citizens.. by gravewax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A country that Doesn't Trust its own Citizens..

    Are you talking about the US or China here?

  7. Re:They need a partner here... by omnichad · · Score: 1

    Their first step should be a requirement to have an American company be their partner in order to do business here. This includes manufacturing the product here as well.

    What domestic brand even makes their phone here? They can just have a US subsidiary based here and they'd really be no different from Apple or Samsung.

  8. Re:A Country That Doesn't Trust Its Own Citizens.. by dryriver · · Score: 1

    The difference between Democracies and Communist countries is free journalism. When something bad happens in a democracy, there is a fair chance that - eventually - the news headlines will read "scandal - our acting govt did XYZ immoral thing". The immoral thing may happen. But there is a fair probability that the citizens will eventually find out about it. How often does that happen in Communist China or Russia or North Korea? Show me a North Korean TV broadcast where Kim "did something immoral".

    --
    Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
  9. Re:A Country That Doesn't Trust Its Own Citizens.. by gravewax · · Score: 1

    So because the people eventually find out they were fucked over by their government as opposed to remaining ignorant somehow makes it better? don't get me wrong I think China have a lot to answer for, but the hypocrisy here is mind blowing, the US and many other governments have proven repeatedly that they do EXACTLY what you are now worried that the Chinese government "might" do.

  10. Re:Only path forward - OPEN SOURCE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    an OPEN DOOR policy where you can walk the fuck out if you can't accept things the way they are.

  11. Re:A Country That Doesn't Trust Its Own Citizens.. by rtb61 · · Score: 2

    Are you kidding, your joking, you absolutely must, perhaps you don't recognise your own satire. Free journalism, that must be the kind where the journalism is not paid for by advertising dollars, that control that journalism. Even the most honest journalism is driven by charity and the need to serve those willing to fund that charity because of the protections it provides by trying to tell the truth.

    US corporate journalism free, who is kidding who, it is bought and paid for corporate propaganda and completely owned by various vested interests, every story controlled, every story shaped, many stories buried and with factual proof of that even crimes, lies truth the only difference can they sue.

    Upon a national basis is it probably unwise to trust any foreign corporation with your communications systems, they are an integral part of democracy and a modern functioning society. All countries should take exactly the same view, the Government of China, should absolutely not trust any tech equipment coming out of the US, it is simply the way it is. BY that same token even allies should not trust each other, the Australian government should most definitely not trust the US government, especially as they are likely aware of the many lies the US has told including to the Australian government, so no the US should not be given the keys to Australia's communication infrastructure, the idea would be insane.

    At an individual level sure Huawei, why not. You certainly would not want it to dominate the market and minor percentage of the market who cares. There is the realistic expectation by the electorate that where possible the government source anything it needs locally first, regardless of additional cost, especially in the tech sector. Nobody can be trusted in this sector as proven by the various exposure of countries and corporations. In the US example it should be law, that all government employees at all levels use only US manufactured computer equipment at work and that includes phones. It will cost more but it is the sensible security measure to take plus drive employment and better manage the tech corporate tax cheats.

    I don't understand why the US government is mealy mouthing their way around this. Probably lip service to global trade and of course lulling other countries into accepting US hardware and software tainted by security letters, so that the US can pull their plug any time the US wants to. Just stick to the security reality, no different the EU or China or and especially the US, any country should seek to fully secure it's own communications infrastructure, in the digital age, you kill that communications and you kill that country.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  12. Re:A Country That Doesn't Trust Its Own Citizens.. by jon3k · · Score: 1

    the US and many other governments have proven repeatedly that they do EXACTLY what you are now worried that the Chinese government "might" do.

    And the reason you know about it is because we live in the US and not China.

  13. Huawei is Ericsson's Nemesis by Greyfox · · Score: 1
    If you ever get to talk to someone from Ericsson, ask them, "You work for Ericsson, what do you know about Huawei?" and get ready for the rant. Scuttlebutt is that Huawei basically got hold of and copied the APZ hardware Ericsson uses in their phone exchanges. They're a masterpiece of engineering, not the sort of thing one's likely to just throw together. The racks have multiple processor cards that synchronize their memory between them and a testing card that is constantly looking for processing errors. If a fatal error occurs, the back-up card can take over processing for the main one with zero traffic lost. They also run an emulator for an esoteric chip that they originally used to make the machines so that applications their clients wrote for the hardware a couple decades ago will continue to work. The programming language reads like assembly language and is pretty difficult to follow. The Huawei hardware is supposed to be a drop-in replacement that'll run your old applications and everything. And, they're likely to go on to allege, they've seen signs that the hardware's been backdoored so that Huawei guys can get in and spy on stuff going on in the exchange.

    This is all in the form of rumors, of course, I never actually heard anything official from inside the company, but it seems like every Ericsson employee is ready to whip this story out at a moment's notice. Given that Huawei's success works against Ericsson, I'd take the rant with a grain of salt, but it really seems like Ericsson views Huawei as its evil nemesis.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?