Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Lawmakers Want Google To Reconsider Links To China's Huawei (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the shortened-links dept.

Some U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have asked Google on Wednesday to reconsider its work with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, citing security concerns. Reuters reports: In a letter to Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, the lawmakers said Google recently decided not to renew "Project Maven," an artificial intelligence research partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense. "While we regret that Google did not want to continue a long and fruitful tradition of collaboration between the military and technology companies, we are even more disappointed that Google apparently is more willing to support the Chinese Communist Party than the U.S. military," they wrote. The letter was signed by Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, Republican Representatives Michael Conaway and Liz Cheney, and Democratic Representative Dutch Ruppersberger.

"Like many U.S. companies, we have agreements with dozens of OEMs (manufacturers) around the world, including Huawei. We do not provide special access to Google user data as part of these agreement, and our agreements include privacy and security protections for use data," she said in an emailed statement.

18 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Bullying by JcMorin · · Score: 4, Informative

    I view that as full Bullying from the gov.

    1. Re:Bullying by postbigbang · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Cite then, chapter and verse, where Huawei has a product that contains code that benefits the Chinese government in a security risk scenario.

      No one has. It's bullshit until they do. This is Cisco/Juniper bribery/legislative influence until someone points to actual code that is a security risk or compromise.

      Are they backdoor'd? Are their routers loaded with malware? No one can point to a smoking gun. This is about economics, not security, until they can cite actual security problems. This is the same group of legislative nitwits that are slowly killing the ACA, twiddling their thumbs while children are forcibly separated from their parents at borders, who can't decide on a budget, but who are happy to pass massive budget if the word "military" is involved, spend billions on planes that don't fly, and otherwise don't have anything like consumerism in mind.

      The Android operating system is a recipe for making Google plentiful amounts of money, with security a nascent side-thought. Google Play is rife with malware, crypto-currency laden apps, and worse.

      So when you say, "I suppose you don't fully grasp the threat of backdoored mobile computers", I have to laugh loudly.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re:Bullying by postbigbang · · Score: 2

      From the article you cite:
      "Ms. Lim said the software was intended to help the Chinese client identify junk text messages and calls. She did not identify the company that requested it and said she did not know how many phones were affected. She said phone companies, not Adups, were responsible for disclosing privacy policies to users. âoeAdups was just there to provide functionality that the phone distributor asked for,â she said.

      Android phones run software that is developed by Google and distributed free for phone manufacturers to customize. A Google official said the company had told Adups to remove the surveillance ability from phones that run services like the Google Play store. That would not include devices in China, where hundreds of millions of people use Android phones but where Google does not operate because of censorship concerns.

      Because Adups has not published a list of affected phones, it is not clear how users can determine whether their phones are vulnerable. âoePeople who have some technical skills could,â Mr. Karygiannis, the Kryptowire vice president, said. âoeBut the average consumer? No.â

      The malware was removed. How many malware citations would you like concerning Android in general?

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
  2. Did they not mentin ZTE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Strange they didn't mention the other big Chinese OEM with government ties.... ZTE, the one that broke Iran and North Korean sanctions.

    "@realDonaldTrump
    President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!
    8:01 AM - 13 May 2018 "

    Some deal was done, Trump let them off, then there was some internal arguments, then that became a fine instead of $1 billion, then Senate voted to keep the sanctions, and its currently in limbo while the House decides to back it or not.

    Make China Great Again! Too many jobs lost in China!

  3. Playing the patriotism card ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    ... is the "Think of the children," model.

    Especially damning is the "Communist," reference.

    To make anything great again you gotta go back.

    Say hello to 1950.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Informative

      It is nothing about that, it is about the laws on the books that give the government specific rights to restrict international activities of companies for national security purposes already specifically mention the Communist Party.

      Your perception that that involves somehow "going back" is silly; the laws were never changed, and the language never stopped putting enemies in the already-enumerated boxes like "Communist" and "Terrorist."

      It doesn't have anything to do with Communism per se, it has instead to do with a generic threat to throw government powers behind some sort of enforcement.

      Just like, during my wife's immigration interview she had to answer lots of questions about if she was ever a member of the Communist Party, etc. Just because the media told you, "Yay, the Cold War ended," it didn't actually imply that Congress had rewritten the last 60 years of law to take out all the terminology.

    2. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

      lol. We obviously grew up at the same time, but obviously we see things differently. See, my father sat on a runway with a single payload for a week in Oct 1962. Likewise, I worked for the DOD doing bio-chemical warfare research and became well aware of how much work the Soviet was doing with biologicals (esp anthrax and small pox), along with Chemicals( esp Novichok ). None of this was horseshit.

      However, I will say that I got out of that because I felt that USSR was gone clear back in early 80s and reagan was simply delaying things. So I went into coding. Of course, in the 00s, I ended up working again with gov agencies. In this case, I was working on PAT act. Considering the equipment was so cool, I stayed with it. However, testing means that you see/listen to things. Even Samples. And one of the things you find out, is that America is under a massive threat from a number of parties. That includes China most of all. In fact, I dealt with 2 CHinese spies. One was sent to the mainland (though he came from Taiwan, he wanted mainland upon being booted). But others were also in the mix.

      The point is, this was not horseshit again. ANd that was about 10 years ago.

      Just because you want to either close your eyes to it, or think of yourself as a peacenik, or are actually working for the Russian/Chinese/etc, does not mean that it does not exist.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Especially damning is the "Communist,"

      The largest owner and the President/CEO are high-ranking members of the Communist Party (as well as retired officers in the Chinese Army). There's a connection there.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    4. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

      So, better dead than red.

      I lived it, read the book, saw the movie.

      Make America Scared Again

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    5. Re: Playing the patriotism card ... by WindBourne · · Score: 2

      Well, the reason is simple. Until you see REALLY see things, you do not know WHAT to believe. The fact is, our gov lies as much as any others. As such, it becomes difficult. If you read carefully what I wrote, you will see that back on the biological work under reagan, I was disillusioned with what our gov was doing. I knew what USSR was up to, but we also knew that USSR was finished in early 80s. Basically, all the presidents PRIOR to regan took out the USSR. He prolonged USSR's life by 10 years. Of course to be fair, it is very possible that he kept us out of a hot war. When gov are collapsing, they tend to bring up other things to pay attention to (trump should come to mind; do not pay attention to Mueller ). I really was surprised that the Soviets did not attack beyond Afghanistan. But,I quit doing that because of it. Now, I see that Russia comes up again, and is just the same with putin in control. Sad.

      My twin had an interesting observation. He was stationed in S. Korea back when the Koreans were all protesting against their ongoing war. One thing he commented on, was that before doing military duty, the Koreans protested. However,once they were in the military and saw what was going on in the DMZ as well as off-shore, few would protest again. Same thing here.
      Personally, I do not have a big issue with Dork. He is understandable.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    6. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by 2ms · · Score: 2

      You lived what? I live in a former communist country. Communism is the greatest tragedy of modern human history. If you didn't live as sheltered of a life as you do then perhaps you might be able to grasp this, however, I suspect you are American and have only lived in America.

    7. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      You pretty much have to be a member of the Communist Party to get to that level in China. But what does that mean for Huwawei products?

      Maybe they are backdoored by the government. But then again we know for a fact with 100% certainty that Cisco products are backdoored by the US government, and probably many other US products.

      From a security standpoint relying on any single point of failure is always a bad idea. Just replacing your Huwawei network gear with Cisco isn't going to make your organization secure. Maybe the opposite - with Huwawei perhaps you can afford to hire some competent security admins.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Playing the patriotism card ... by djinn6 · · Score: 2

      If you have to pick which backdoor, pick one from people who have the least power over you. Who cares if China knows you're a furry? They're not going to arrest you from half way across the world.

  4. Re:Project Maven Response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, you really believe the Goog's suggestion that their only risk to national security is in user data? There can't be any risk in shipping millions of pounds of network hardware and putting black box hardware with SDRs every few hundred meters in big cities and every kilometer in less dense areas. Nope, no risk in Google collaborating with them, the user data is safe and secure. And that's exactly one risk vector.

  5. Fascists by meglon · · Score: 2

    Sounds like some fascist anti-freemarket politicians demanding private companies suck military dick even harder. Worship of the military is a bad thing.

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  6. in other words by nimbius · · Score: 2

    We're running out of gas on the witch hunt bus here and we could sure use some help. Its hard work trying to convince americans to give a shit about the red scare nearly 30 years after the fall of the soviet union.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  7. Sour Grapes by thesupraman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its some pissed military contract manager who has a bad case of sour grapes because he cannot not fulfill his 'development' project as it was all going to be from google..

    'Boo Hoo, I'm going to throw all my toys out of the cot and scream until I get what I want' is how this reads.

    Pathetic really.

  8. Hey they trying to spy for free by AHuxley · · Score: 2

    A US gov worker, contractor at a US mil site, camp, fort, port, station will drive home from work.
    Their own network devices will be made in China. Every movement to base and all the content they consume off base will be collected on by a Communist nation.
    China will surround every US camp, fort, base, port with digital collection networks. Much like the NSA and GCHQ do globally.
    Log every officer and their interests. Collect on the moments of every contractor and see their full digital lifestyles.
    Encryption will do nothing as the device supports the same keys and updates.
    What the NSA and GCHQ had to spend billions and decades on, China will get given for free by US mil and contractors enjoying low cost networking products from China.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"