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: 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.

"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.