Europe Should Be Afraid of Huawei, EU Tech Official Says (reuters.com)

The European Union should be worried about Huawei and other Chinese technology companies because of the risk they pose to the bloc's industry and security, the EU's technology commissioner said on Friday. From a report: "Do we have to be worried about Huawei or other Chinese companies? Yes, I think we have to be worried about those companies," Andrus Ansip told a news conference in Brussels, days after a top executive at Chinese tech giant Huawei was arrested in Canada as part of an investigation into alleged bank fraud.

Huawei, which generated $93 billion in revenue last year and is seen as a national champion in China, faces intense scrutiny from many Western nations over its ties to the Chinese government, driven by concerns it could be used by Beijing for spying. Ansip said he was concerned because Chinese technology companies were required to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services, such as on "mandatory back doors" to allow access to encrypted data.

He also said those companies produce chips that could be used "to get our secrets." "As normal, ordinary people we have to be afraid," he said, adding he did not have enough information about the recent arrest in Canada.

Comments

this sounds familiar "mandatory back doors"

[EnOne]

this could easily be rewritten

"Huawei, which generated $93 billion in revenue last year and is seen as a national champion in China, faces intense scrutiny from many Western nations over its ties to the Chinese government, driven by concerns it could be used by Beijing for spying. Ansip said he was concerned because Chinese technology companies were required to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services, such as on "mandatory back doors" to allow access to encrypted data. "

to

"Apple, which generated $233 billion in revenue last year and is seen as a national champion in US, faces intense scrutiny from many nations over its orders from the US government, driven by concerns it could be used for spying. Ansip said he was concerned because US technology companies were being forced in FISA courts to cooperate with FBI investigations, such as on "mandatory back doors" to allow access to encrypted data."

Re:this sounds familiar "mandatory back doors"

[MindPrison]

Yep, it's always "EVIL" when it's the other side spying. Now if they had total control themselves, they wouldn't cry "wolf" like this, but they'd shut up about it and tell the denizens to go back to their normal lives and live it as if nothing was afoot.

Truth is - we need open source processors and alternatives, so we have an alternative to big corporations that can be forced to make decisions based on the powers that be.

Re:this sounds familiar "mandatory back doors"

[Geoffrey.landis]

But so far Apple has resisted the mandatory decrypting and back doors.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/02/apple-other-tech-companies-continue-to-resist-encryption-backdoor-proposals-by-fbi-us-doj

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/19/apple-fbi-privacy-encryption-fight-san-bernardino-shooting-syed-farook-iphone

https://www.imore.com/why-apple-was-right-resist-government-demands-back-door-ios

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-wants-apple-to-help-unlock-iphone-used-by-san-bernardino-shooter/2016/02/16/69b903ee-d4d9-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.htm

Re: Why???

[Anonymous Coward]

If you look how Chinese companies are structured, by their law, a Chinese official has to be on the board, and has the ultimate decision authority. It is equivalent to having someone from the NSA, CIA, DHS, or DEA be the deciding person on a US company's board in every decision made. Yes people argue, but US companies can give the middle finger to the government. Not so in China where attempts to do so will have people and their families send off somewhere to be "re-educated".

Even a foreign company doing business on Chinese soil cannot do so unless a Chinese counterpart (and thus the PRC) owns 51% of the venture.

So, yes, China is a threat, as anything Huawei gets, the Chinese government gets, and that info can be easily sold. They may not hurt you or your family, but they can find someone who can.

Probably more concerned about not spying for us.

[Anonymous Coward]

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) just came up with eTLS, a version of TLS1.3 that can be decrypted by middleboxes because it uses static keys instead of ephemeral keys from a DH key exchange. This eTLS version is to be used so that companies can decrypt TLS connections to inspect for viruses, information leaks, etc., but also so that data inspection requirements of law enforcement can be fulfilled. American companies are subject to American spy agencies and can be forced to implement backdoors that they cannot tell any of their customers about. The existence of National Security Letters leave not a shred more trust in these companies' products than the reign of the Chinese government over Huawei leaves in their products. Nobody's warning about using Erricson, Nokia, Alcatel, Juniper or Cisco in our networks. These are companies which are beholden to "the good guys", right? They are not more secure, but we can tell them to give us backdoor access. We cannot tell Huawei to open a network for us. I think that's the actual reason behind those warnings. Nobody is trustworthy. The difference is who will cooperate with us.

"Secrets"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's be honest here, China doesnt give a flying fuck about *my* secrets, and frankly I'd rather the Chinese or Russians had a backdoor to my data than my own fucking government, Duh.
Funny how the government(s) here dont like backdoors in their *own* shit, but want to mandatory install them in *everyone else's* shit.

Yeah, little trouble ginning up sympathy here for anyone other than joe and jane consumer, who get fucked either way.

But Still -- Who's Side Should You Pick?

[Slicker]

The U.S. government is not perfect but I think a great deal not as bad as the Chinese government, in so many ways. And China has been particularly aggressive in its spying, using technology and human assets in the United States and Europe. Chinese aggression against its weaker neighbors is legendary, pushing them around in the the South China sea and other places -- even Chinese fishermen boarding other nation's boats and attacking them with clubs.

Furthermore, the "disappearances" of people in all regions but particularly minority regions has been vast and relentless for decades. Chinese denials of shooting Tibetans crossing the border on foot toward Nepal, for example, was shut down after European mountain climbers video recorded it. China has led the world and the predominant supplier of human organs. The company that builds its "death mobiles" was bragging about growing production demand for them, about 5 years ago when production rates were 1000 per year. Those bodies exhibits, each holding around 200 bodies, in various cities around the U.S. simultaneously were interestingly stocked with Chinese youth, roughly in their 20's (almost exclusively). And of course, there are the camps with millions of minorities for re-education. How many Tibetan monks taken have every been seen again? At one time, over 8,000 were taken never to be seen again.

Our country (the United States) has all kinds of problems but I really think we need to not lose perspective.

Re:But Still -- Who's Side Should You Pick?

[DNS-and-BIND]

Chinese aggression against its weaker neighbors is legendary

Gimme a break. The United States is the world's leading bully. Does the United States require seventeen intelligence agencies that alone cost more than Russia spends on defense? Particularly when they have a long history of lying, incompetence and in some cases criminality (torture, murder, support of genocide, etc.). It seems to me that if Trump eradicates some (CIA), reduces some in size (NSA), merges those that overlap (NRO and NGA) and focuses on those that are any good (DIA), it'll make the United States safer and the world better. If anything, during the Cold War the KGB ran merry circles around western agencies that were all hilariously incompetent. You could have had German shepherds staff the CIA and get about the same result.

The US has repeatedly interfered in a multitude of elections, coups and power-struggles in an enormous variety of countries over the last hundred and fifty years. They're probably the worst offenders internationally. Here are a couple of highlights:
* Syria 1949: The democratically elected government of Shukri al-Quwatli was overthrown in a CIA backed coup. It installed a military dictatorship under Husni al-Za'im.
* Iran 1953: The democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh was overthrown in a CIA and MI6 backed coup. It reinstalled the Shah and indirectly facilitated the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
* Guatamala 1954: The democratically elected government of Jacobo Ãrbenz was overthrown in a CIA backed coup. It installed a military dictatorship under Carlos Castillo Armas.
* Chile 1973: The democratically elected government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA backed coup. It installed a military dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet.
* Let's not forget Iraq 2003. No WMD were ever found.

And I haven't even mentioned any of the many, many countries the US invaded during the 20th Century. Let's imagine China declaring itself an "East Pacific" power, intervening in America's back yard, installing nuclear weapons in Mexico and Venezuela and establishing a strong military presence in the Caribbean. The American will to dominate the planet with its nonsensical assertions that it's maintaining the international "order" and encouraging "democracy" is an updated version of the old colonial "White Man's Burden."

Re:But Still -- Who's Side Should You Pick?

[turp182]

I won't speak to US related regime change in the Middle East, but here's the list of our activities in South America.

There are 11 countries listed. I didn't read the whole thing, but 30,000 people "disappeared" when the US helped overthrow a democratically elected president in Argentina (circa 1976).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

China does play with their citizens and their neighbors. The US does this stuff world wide (secret prisons, abductions, etc.).

Re: Why???

[DNS-and-BIND]

Even a foreign company doing business on Chinese soil cannot do so unless a Chinese counterpart (and thus the PRC) owns 51% of the venture.

That is a flat-out lie. You are fake news.

A wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) is a company established in China according to Chinese laws and wholly owned by one or more foreign investors.

http://www.china-briefing.com/news/setting-up-a-wholly-foreign-owned-enterprise-in-china/