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Britain and Germany Will Not Ban Huawei, Citing Lack of Spying Evidence (reuters.com)

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes from a report via Reuters: Despite persistent U.S. allegations of Chinese state spying, Britain said it is able to manage the security risks of using Huawei telecom equipments and has not seen any evidence of malicious activity by the company, a senior official said on Wednesday. Asked later whether Washington had presented Britain with any evidence to support its allegations, he told reporters: "I would be obliged to report if there was evidence of malevolence [...] by Huawei. And we're yet to have to do that. So I hope that covers it."

At the same time, German officials have told The Wall Street Journal that the country has made a "preliminary decision" to allow Huawei to bid on contracts for 5G networking. Catering to the surging populism, the U.S. has accused Huawei and other Chinese telecom equipments, along with European cars, as national security risks, even though the National Security Agency, American's cyber spying agency, was found to have wiretapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel, conducted economic espionage against France, and hacked into Chinese networks. Earlier this week, beleaguered Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei described the continued investigations by the U.S. into the Chinese firm -- including the arrest of his daughter and company CFO, Meng Wanzhou -- as politically motivated.

240 comments

  1. Re:"catering to surging populism" by 110010001000 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Whats the deal with all the racism on this site? Does BizX think that is cool or something?

  2. Re: "catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hahahahaha you can bring a customer to polluted water but you cant make them drink

  3. Boy who cried wolf by Livius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The US has squandered its credibility. I can't say that Huawei inspires me with trust, but US accusations mean nothing.

    1. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Livius" have you read the charges and seen the evidence? What about the Dutch Orange telecom charges? What about the half-dozen public IP theft charges? All US propaganda, eh? Drink, comrade. You'll feel better.

    2. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. The fact that the US expressly refuses even any kind of no-spy-agreement (as useless as such a symbolic contract would be, getting ignored anyway) along with their obvious espionage in countries like Germany renders their claims that other countries are evil spies completely ridiculous.

      The US is like shouting "Hold the thieve! He's got my knife in his back!".

    3. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ideas are not property. IP laws are a US thing. The US has no right to apply it's rules to other nations.

    4. Re:Boy who cried wolf by ffkom · · Score: 5, Informative

      The British, who are considered "5-Eyes"-spying comrades of the US, have, as you can read, not seen compelling evidence. And they have been the poodle fetching US-thrown sticks for decades now. What more non-evidence can you ask for?

    5. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When a company like Huawei (or any company) does business with the US, has assets or people in the US, officers? Yeah, law does matter, bitch. Spread em and cough, here comes the delouser. And I hope you like cantina food.

      Oh yeah, in this country? You get a full trial. WITH Lawyer, ACTUAL lawyer, not a court lackey joke like in China. You get actual rights. Especially if you're a Billionaire like Meng, it's kind of ridiculous.

      You don't just get swept up off the street into a black site for months like in China. You don't just get an arbitrary court ruling without public scrutiny, you get an actual trial in the public eye. Reported. Transcripts. Evidence.

      Fuck the false equivocationalists. Let them see the inside of a Chinese court with their own closed eyes. The truth shall set them free, unless they're Uighurs or their social status score drops below 200.

    6. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet China is first for:

      * Intellectual Property Theft
      https://www.industryweek.com/intellectual-property/what-could-be-done-about-chinas-theft-intellectual-property

      *State-sponsored hacking (making the Norks look like children)
      https://www.wired.com/story/china-tests-limits-of-us-hacking-truce/

      Show me unrepudiated evidence exonerating Huawei and proving they aren't a state-sponsored company with ties to organized hacking/cracking/exploitation/world+dog and maybe I'll change my mind.

      https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/chinese-hacking-efforts-more-strategic-less-noisy/

      I'll take my un-china ISP equipment verified by TAA and raise you!

      https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7371868/

    7. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, TFA is about Huawei doing business elsewhere, and the authorities there have decided that whatever stuff US spewed about the "rich Chinks", as you call them, is baseless.

      This is a welcome change, as Brexitannia has until recently followed the US repeating its lies about Iraq, Syria, Russia and whatnot to the letter.

      So we see, when it comes to real money, propaganda still fails.

    8. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh i love that line - "Hold the thieve! He's got my knife in his back!". +100

    9. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're just repeating the flamebait summary, when actually the UK is only refusing to "completely ban" them. They're still agreeing that extensive "mitigation" is necessary, and they won't be allowed everywhere. So only a partial ban.

      You're just some foreign propagandist's tool. Like a bot, but stupider.

    10. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Rich Chinks" lol. This is about "ChiComs" - other "the people's" money.

    11. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Do you think China would ignore a company like Huawei operating for the US intelligence in China? Do you, punk-san?

      They've obviously accepted as a matter of course that a whole bunch of big US companies in China are doing intelligence for the US for decades and haven't bothered them.

      Show me a big US company that has no China subsidiary.

    12. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 2

      There is no "intellectual property". There are various temporary monopoly licenses given by the state (patents, copyrights, etc.) to the author of an intellectual work to recoup their costs. But the catch is that those licenses are limited.

      Trying to turn them into a perpetuity is a lawyer trick, which only feeds the "intellectual property" lobbyist and lawyers, and does nothing for the real authors, who actually come up with the clever ideas.

    13. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... the US should just roll over and allow them to continue to do that...

      Why not? It's what the US expects of its vassals.

    14. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The US government is just looking out for US corporations, trying to secure a bigger piece of the estimated 3.5 trillion dollars that 5G will generate by spreading FUD about their biggest competition.

    15. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So either you're saying the US companies didn't steal from Chinese companies, or China never detected that anywhere close to where the US has detected China doing that. Pick one. Can't have both.

    16. Re:Boy who cried wolf by _merlin · · Score: 1

      You're asking for people to prove a negative. It's the responsibility of the person making the accusations to provide evidence of wrongdoing. Nothing ever satisfies someone asking for evidence to prove a negative.

    17. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The vast majority of defendants in the US "justice" system receive little if any justice. A public defender will spend a few minutes in total on each case. I would equally take my chances in any Chinese system. At least China is not executing civilians in other nations with flying robots.

    18. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, I'm saying nothing of the sort. It is a lot simpler -- the Chinese companies are generally more innovative, competitive, flexible and adaptable and therefore China is a lot more pro free-market than the US today. So they ignore the intelligence and subversion that US companies are trying in China, as these don't pose a significant threat to China.

      For the US it is the other way around - the US companies are senile, incapable of competition and unable to deliver stuff to the market and reasonable prices. So they try to avoid the competition by political measures.

      This is market forces fighting against abuse of dominant position. You can tell this surely by the kind of argument that is put forward against China - it is all about politics and racism (you call them "rich chinks"), and not about the products.

      And we also know which side always wins.

    19. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's well known that there's no actual justice in the US justice system - it only serves those with the most expensive lawyers.

    20. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      The US has squandered its credibility.

      Huh? We pissed that away before GW'd barely begun. Anyway, to paraphrase Mao, "credibility" comes from the point of a gun.

    21. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You don't just get swept up off the street into a black site for months like in China

      You people are so funny. There are plenty of examples of America doing exactly this.
      When they dont just assasinate or drone strike the people instead.

      America 'justice' is so non existant most people just take plea bargains and never even make it to the 'fair trial' stage.

    22. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And what that means is that Brexitannia is just playing a little bit to the Big Brother tune, not that it actually recognizes China as the culprit.

    23. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go suck your slave cock, apologist.

    24. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Logical, factual and polite. What a strong point you're making. Lol.

    25. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      IP laws in European Union are in general more draconian than in US due to GDPR.

    26. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      The side that wins such wars is the one that is more geopolitically advantaged. China is very much disadvantaged here, just from the point of view of the massive structural problems. Just because Shenzhen is innovative doesn't outweigh the structural inertia of almost 99% of the rest of the country.

      It doesn't outweigh the fact that entire Chinese success wholly depends on US continuing to provide their shipping maritime security guarantees as started with Bretton-Woods. That's why they are in a process of a desperate lurch to build bases at the very least on the easiest artery to simply shut down for US, the oil shipments from Persian Gulf.

      So even if we assume that you're correct in your claims, China is still on the side that stands to lose. Because it doesn't matter to China if US stands and blocks it off, or collapses as a state entirely. The outcome for China would be the same in both edge cases. Structural collapse due to sudden crippling of its export based economy being unable to have fast and safe access to world markets via maritime trade.

    27. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If Huawei doesn't want to do business in the US, fine! Otherwise they have to follow the rules. It's so simple, even a ChiCom could pretend not to get it.

    28. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 2

      IP laws are an international thing supported by international treaties, treaties China has repeatedly promised to enforce.

    29. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      No but they do execute children in their own nation with machine guns and tanks. Hell per their story that Tibet is part of their country they burn their own civilians alive.

    30. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      Enough evidence has already been publicly released to damn them. I don't know why the Brits are turning traitor.

    31. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 2

      What do states spying on states have to do with states spying for businesses? States spying on each other is fair game and it has been no secret the US spies on everyone and everyone spies on the US since at least the 80's. The only surprising thing with the leaks is how successful they are at it but what they don't generally do is bring government sized and capabilities to promote private interests (except maybe in a rare instance where it a security interest). China is a different beast with the state and business tightly coupled.

    32. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "Show me a big US company that has no China subsidiary."

      Show me something US Intelligence would be doing with Chinese business that isn't defensive. Their entire industry and IP base came from the US.

    33. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-huawei-tech-europe-britain/new-uk-laws-will-block-chinas-huawei-from-sensitive-state-projects-the-sun-idUSKCN1PX2GL

    34. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "It is a lot simpler -- the Chinese companies are generally more innovative, competitive, flexible and adaptable and therefore China is a lot more pro free-market than the US today."

      ROFL In the sense they sell non-functional fake hardware, produce additional runs of products ordered by US companies, and everything they sell on Alibaba was invented in the US (okay, there is some European in there as well). The handful of Chinese products anyone has ever heard of are just attempts to replicate and make their own version. Technically that is different IP and legal but it still isn't original thought.

    35. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly and China should start remembering that. We brought them out of the 12th century, we can put them back.

    36. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What, doesn't the tweets from orange baboon count as reliable source? What more do you want? Fox news report of it with bible as information source?

    37. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh yeah, in this country? You get a full trial. WITH Lawyer, ACTUAL lawyer, not a court lackey joke like in China.

      Historically that has not always been the case when it comes to IP cases.

      There have been occurrences when it appears that it seems enough to ask for someone to be extradited to the US. After they have been put in custody it is no longer a priority and they are stuck in custody indefinitely.

      Also, US courts are known to not judge fairly in cases between a US citizen and a non-citizen.

      So you probably get a court lackey joke either way.
      The big difference is that if you go to the US you get out after 20 years, but the trial is still a joke.

    38. Re: Boy who cried wolf by edris90 · · Score: 0

      That's a quicker and less painful death then the slow torture of the poor and huddled masses die of barbaric conditions in our country.

    39. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Freischutz · · Score: 2

      The US has squandered its credibility. I can't say that Huawei inspires me with trust, but US accusations mean nothing.

      ... and now that the US is being ruled by New York's village idiot and has decided to isolate itself, the EU is beginning to move closer to the fastest growing, and soon to be largest single economy in the world. The real irony of the situation is that this entire evolution is being driven by Trumpism and would not be happening if it wasn't for the Trump administration. American politics has devolved into a foot shooting contest.

    40. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhm, GDPR has nothing to do with IP laws.

      Seems like your post is either uninformed or that you are are spreading FUD intentionally.

    41. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do states spying on states have to do with states spying for businesses?

      The US does both.

      States spying on each other is fair game and it has been no secret the US spies on everyone and everyone spies on the US since at least the 80's.

      "I do it so therefore everyone else probably does it too so therefore it must be OK that I do it too!"

    42. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GDPR has nothing to do with IP laws.

    43. Re:Boy who cried wolf by cute-boy · · Score: 1

      Enough evidence has already been publicly released to damn them. I don't know why the Brits are turning traitor.

      Could you cite the links to this publicly released evidence? There is certainly a lot of noise... Thanks.

    44. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least its liberal democratic torture, that has to account for something?

    45. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Apologies, I'm engaged a discussion on GDPR and confused it for a moment.

      I meant the old copyright directive from about a decade ago.

    46. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      My post is about talking about two things at once and accidentally mixing them up. I was referring to the copyright directive from about a decade ago, that resulted in some rather nasty national legislation in most EU member states, far more strict than DMCA.

    47. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Must suck to be you, living in a country where even the poor have clean air, reliable electricity, running water, indoor toilets, air conditioning, smartphones, access to free education, the right to vote, and enough food that obesity is an issue. Yup, absolutely barbaric.

      Oh, you weren't referring to the US? My bad.

    48. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      US would sue aliens for using proprietary IP. Prior art doesn't count outside of the solar system.

    49. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It comes to telecoms incurring huge losses if they suddenly have to rip out all existing Huawei equipment and migrate to something else. In this case competitors can surely quote a high price for replacement equipment and the question is if they have capacity for the sudden increase in demand for such equipment. So this ban is unfeasible and just a silly wish by Trump's neocons.

    50. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eh? GDPR has nothing to do with IP laws.

    51. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm happier to cooperate with a ruling party where the ruler can be voted out (and will eventually be forced out) than one where they can't be.

    52. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ping is that you? Is Ivan there too?

      King Fucker Chicken

    53. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No kidding... I was going to say that the poor here have it pretty damn good compared to other countries. Ive traveled to SE Asia a lot.. and those countries just dont give a shit about their poor.

    54. Re: Boy who cried wolf by houghi · · Score: 1

      Why does Huawei does not inspire you with trust? I am assuming that this in comparison to other companies.

      If that is the case, you know what the d in fud stands for.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    55. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should probably check the level of technology in China and Europe and the America in the 1100s.

    56. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought GPDR went when the Berlin wall came down.

    57. Re: Boy who cried wolf by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      No AC asshole! It's that the EU is turning to authoritarianism by siding with axis powers of China, Russia, and Iran.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    58. Re:Boy who cried wolf by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      The great intellect of Europeans would say otherwise. Let see how their little protest protest goes. I think they're just pissing in the wind and the leaders won't have their insolence laying down. Serfs!

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    59. Re: Boy who cried wolf by mjwx · · Score: 3, Funny

      The US government is just looking out for US corporations, trying to secure a bigger piece of the estimated 3.5 trillion dollars that 5G will generate by spreading FUD about their biggest competition.

      Meanwhile the British and Germans are saving billions on not having backup infrastructure.. If we lose any data we'll just ask the Chinese government for it.

      Espionage based backup is insanely cheap.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    60. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bluff called. Go do it. I bet you don't.

    61. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The US government is just looking out for US corporations, trying to secure a bigger piece of the estimated 3.5 trillion dollars that 5G will generate by spreading FUD about their biggest competition.

      What US corporations are you referring to? The largest providers of kit are Ericsson and Nokia, but from the EU.

      There is no US company that makes telco equipment:

      * https://www.rcrwireless.com/20160531/network-infrastructure/top-5-wireless-infrastructure-makers-tag4-tag99
      * https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Telecom-s-5G-revolution-triggers-shakeup-in-base-station-market

      (Is Motorola still around?)

      Or are you referring to IP layer stuff?

    62. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the US wants to be taken seriously by the world they need to declassify at least some of their argument. It is all bogeymen and paranoid behavior otherwise. Professionals cannot make rational decisions in an information vacuum.

    63. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      The EU isn't one country but that aside it wouldn't be wise for the EU to slip into the top spot even if they could. The thing about being number one is that it makes you a fat and ripe target and the EU is low hanging fruit. The US, China, and Russia can swoop in pretty much anytime and scoop it up. Hell the US already conquered it once, it was just held by the Germans at the time and they kindly gave it back to the people the Germans took it from. The US is much stronger now than then and China and Russia are definitely stronger.

    64. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol ok

    65. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      These aren't mine, they were posted elsewhere. We also had a story about their bonus program for employees who steal trade secrets based on how sensitive what they've stolen is.

      https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/12/12/three-hong-kong-passports-arrested-huawei-exec-meng-wanzhou-revealed-canadian-court/
      https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/07/meng-wanzhou-huawei-cfo-court-bail-fraud-sanctions-breach-canada
      https://www.businessinsider.com/second-huawei-employee-arrested-in-poland-on-suspicion-of-china-spying-2019-1
      https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2177512/huawei-and-skycom-firm-accused-breaching-us-sanctions-shared-web
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-huawei-tech/huawei-units-to-be-arraigned-on-u-s-criminal-charges-on-feb-28-idUSKCN1PN2WP
      https://www.marketwatch.com/story/third-canadian-detained-in-china-following-arrest-of-huawei-exec-2018-12-19
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/arthurherman/2018/12/10/huaweis-and-chinas-dangerous-high-tech-game/

    66. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      Oh really? When was the last time you were slowly roasted to death? Which individual who suffered both did you ask?

    67. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we do that here too but with 2nd amendment nutters

    68. Re: Boy who cried wolf by sarren1901 · · Score: 0

      They think they are siding with them. Wait until Russia decides to invade and the Chinese just sit back and watch.

      But the Europeans are just so sophisticated and smart that I'm sure they will handle everything just fine. Kind of how they handled WWI and WWII. Totally didn't need us stupid Yankies.

    69. Re: Boy who cried wolf by sarren1901 · · Score: 1

      When you are caught red-handed with the bag of coke, a scale and some more baggies, how much "justice" were you hoping to evade? Maybe when you were caught with that stolen car and they tried to flee with it, you expected a slap on the wrist?

      You mean that armed robbery just wasn't suppose to end up in homicide, say it ain't so.

      The vast majority of defendants are very much guilty. You may disagree with the law but the criminal justice system doesn't write the law so best complain to your Congresscritter.

      Really, probably should just move to Canada if you hate the USA so much. Or better yet, just move to China. They are awesome right?

    70. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Enough evidence has already been publicly released to damn them. I don't know why the Brits are turning traitor.

      Not following the lead of the US who have failed to convince these countries of the actual spying happening isn't "traitor" ... it's basically saying "yeah, the US believes this, we don't, we're not following suit".

      That Americans seem to think the rest of the world will automatically follow them is the real problem ... the reality is, the rest of the world has had enough of that asshole president and the whiny, self entitled nation that America has become.

      The reality is, there is simply no good reason why any country should be taking the US at their word for anything, because the guy in charge is a pathological liar.

      We no longer give a shit what the US is throwing tantrums over.

      Claiming not blindly following unproven allegations because the US demands so to be "traitors" pretty much says you somehow believe the bullshit that we give a fuck about what you want or that you are in charge.

    71. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So when you speak about "our country" you actually mean you're Chinese? Because what you describe is certainly more applicable to what is going on there.
      It should be no surprise to most people that it is usually the authoritarian governments that give the least shit about the individual citizen. They don't even have to care about elections every couple of years, because they'll always stay in power and will use force if someone tries to change it.

    72. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're talking about Chinese IP laws, which have been super lax in the past as far as I know, but ok.

      Also, I think you might be conflating IP laws and copyright. Because that's also not the same thing.
      If IP laws are your fingers, copyright is your thumb. The thumb may be very important to you, but in the end it's a subset of your fingers. The term "finger" covers a much broader field than the thumb.
      As far as copyright goes, yes, there's been organizations like the GEMA in Germany for a long time. For these special assholes who sit at the top I think it would be fair to reintroduce the death penalty. Have them drown in a cesspit and then make the death penalty illegal again.

    73. Re:Boy who cried wolf by cute-boy · · Score: 1

      Thanks, those links provide illuminating views from a variety of perspectives.The Forbes article on past espionage - it's author, Arthur Herman, his Hudson Institute, are interesting... Hong Kong Free Press makes raises some good points about CEO behavior, a different view point, again partisan. Seen the Guardian article previously. So I am swayed that "we should not trust Huawei, here, look at their past actions of espionage, and current actions and behavior of the executives, and we have some alternatives". But who can we trust?

    74. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Chinese IP laws are not extremely lax, they're actually quite tight. China has been the state making the most international patent claims for quite a while.

      Problem is not tightness or laxness of these laws. Problem is the selective application of the laws.

    75. Re:Boy who cried wolf by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      What do states spying on states have to do with states spying for businesses? States spying on each other is fair game and it has been no secret the US spies on everyone and everyone spies on the US since at least the 80's. The only surprising thing with the leaks is how successful they are at it but what they don't generally do is bring government sized and capabilities to promote private interests (except maybe in a rare instance where it a security interest). China is a different beast with the state and business tightly coupled.

      The US done the same an been caught doing it on numerous occasions. Not that want to defend, fuck both US and China on mixing national and business espionage.

    76. Re: Boy who cried wolf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Kind of how they handled WWI and WWII. Totally didn't need us stupid Yankies.

      Yep, the Yankees were kinda irrelevant in both WWI and WWII, but especially in WWII. The destruction of the Nazi regime happened because the Soviet Union beat the Nazi Germany all the way from Moscow to Berlin at an enormous human cost to itself.

    77. Re: Boy who cried wolf by edris90 · · Score: 1

      I speak of the USA. Casual and visious atrocities occur commonly and daily in the US throughout country. Here it is s brushed under the rug until someone wants to weaponize the concept for political means. Then a particular type of atrocity it is put in the media spotlight until the agenda it was providing for is achieved and then neatly tucked away back out of public awareness and documentation. The USA is not better. it's just more sneaky and willing to lie about itself to itself. And the house has no limits to its brutality as long as it fills the coffers

  4. Still a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to the British:

    Britain says Huawei has not fixed ‘serious’ problems affecting network security

    Top British cybersecurity officials on Wednesday said the Chinese telecom equipment provider Huawei has yet to fix “serious” engineering problems that could leave civilian networks vulnerable to compromise, at a time when the United States is pressing its case that the company’s ties to China’s government make using its gear an unacceptable security and surveillance risk.

    Sounds like Slashdot posted some more Chinese propoganda.

    1. Re: Still a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They have dedicated company analyzing huawei source codes. Do they do the same for Cisco, juniper, brocade, nokia and others and only huawei is having security problem?

    2. Re:Still a problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, I took the time to actually read the article you linked to, including the statements by the NCSC and GCHQ that “serious problems with their security and engineering processes” are “not indicators of hostile activity by China”, and that they “would be obliged to report if there was evidence of malevolence” by Huawei, “and we have yet to have to do that.”

    3. Re: Still a problem by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Of that magnitude? Apparently yes, as far as public statements seem to indicate at this point in time.

  5. Re:"catering to surging populism" by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    Sure. I am sure Huawei spies. Most tech companies do. But what is the deal with the racism? There is like a Nazi guy all over this site. Does BizX think racism is OK or something?

  6. It's naive to think foreign designs are no threat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every sufficiently capable country should be mandating a complete set of source code minimally and ideally developing homegrown designs and manufacturing capability for security reasons. Relying on the US, China, and/or other countries is a really bad idea. Some countries have recognized the threat and responded accordingly. At least India, Russia, and Iran have some home-grown design, development, and manufacturing capabilities that they are working on. If only they were offering competing products on the world stage we'd probably all be better off. Unfortunately you may not need a high performing or cost efficient CPU at least of your own to realize the security and so we end up with a very small number of companies and countries capable of producing commercial offerings.

  7. Idiots by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

    Or corrupt, no real third option here.

  8. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    " I am sure Huawei spies. Most tech companies do. " - Ok... do most companies spy for China's Communist Party? Do you think there should be nothing done about that, or evading US sanctions laws surreptitiously? Really?

    If you want to cure racism you're not going to find much luck. If you want to uphold the law that's going to be more practically applied.

    " There is like a Nazi guy all over this site " - There are at least 50, and probably four times that lurking, nazi cowards on this site. So? Fuck em. Rope.

    But if you're going to let a few fascist reich-wing cowards disrupt our debates irreparably, you're letting those idiotic trolling inbreds win aren't you?

  9. Does evidence of bad customer service count? by shanen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The real problem would be finding evidence that American companies can be trusted, eh?

    From the purely economic perspective, China has the most to lose if they allow any private companies to get involved in spying. I'd go even farther and say that the Chinese leaders (including Xi) have redefined "communism" to mean "whatever makes money". That means it would now be an attack on "The Party" if Huawei did anything that threatened their corporate profits.

    Having said that, I think the real threat to Huawei's profits is bad customer service. I've actually owned about 6 Huawei devices going back more than a decade. Technically they have all been on the scale from good to excellent, and the prices have put them on the scale from excellent value to superior, but the customer service has always been on the scale from none to miserable. I think if Huawei seriously wants to be an international player in broader areas of consumer electronics, they desperately need to rethink and redo their entire customer service operation. Nuking the support part of their website would be a good start. (Maybe it isn't so gawdawful in Chinese? I'm sure it can't be worse.)

    Then again, there are some features to look for to determine if ANY maker's devices have been designed with espionage in mind. Level 0 would be things like unmentioned microphones, but the google just won that boobie prize. Level 1 would be reasonable features like EEPROM that has legitimate purposes but which could be used to install malware. After all, every device may need an upgrade at some point.

    Level 2 would be clever design for fail safe concealment of the espionage-related capabilities. For example, a DRAM without power protection could be used for holding malware that would automatically disappear when the power is cut for any reason. Part of the POST could check for the network environment so as to detect if the device has been moved into a trap or DMZ (thus preventing re-installation of the spyware).

    --
    Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    1. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My Huawei just got Android Pie update last night. I am pleased because I owned the Android phone for a year now. All my previous Android phones got 0 support after 3 months of owning them.

    2. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Orgasmatron · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Huawei is not a private company. It is a state-run institution. The only private companies in China are small to medium operations. Everything big enough to be strategically important is owned and/or managed by the Chinese army or the Chinese Communist Party.

      Americans tend to assume that the rest of the world is like the US, but it isn't. Here, we have private companies. They are usually willing to cooperate to some extent with the government, but they are still mostly privately owned and managed. That is approximately the current situation throughout most of Western Civilization, but it is actually quite rare elsewhere.

      Most importantly, China does not run on that model at all. The Chinese Communist Party owns the government and military, which in turn owns almost all of the industry and technology.

      Imagine if the NSA got into the business of building cell phone network equipment using chips produced by the Air Force Cyber Command's semiconductor foundry and financed as a joint venture by the CIA and the Pentagon. No big deal, right?

      --
      See that "Preview" button?
    3. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by shanen · · Score: 1

      Were you talking to me? There is a tangential point of possible contact in my second paragraph.

      Based on what you wrote, I think you are quite naive about how the CIA and NSA do things. Also misguided about China, though that's more in the area of exaggeration. There are more similarities in the behavior of corporate cancers than you seem to appreciate.

      However your apparent attitude certainly makes it appear that you would hate to be confused by any actual facts that don't support what you've already decided to believe. If you actually want to learn about the topic, then I could recommend a number of books, but right now it does not appear to be worth the effort of checking my records. Up-to-date URLs would require even more effort.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    4. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "From the purely economic perspective, China has the most to lose if they allow any private companies to get involved in spying."

      Chinese major private companies ARE public companies. The US state exchanging spies with other countries is of little relevance the companies here largely make or break on their own with the exception of some security concerns.

    5. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Freischutz · · Score: 2

      Huawei is not a private company. It is a state-run institution. The only private companies in China are small to medium operations. Everything big enough to be strategically important is owned and/or managed by the Chinese army or the Chinese Communist Party.

      Americans tend to assume that the rest of the world is like the US, but it isn't. Here, we have private companies. They are usually willing to cooperate to some extent with the government, but they are still mostly privately owned and managed. That is approximately the current situation throughout most of Western Civilization, but it is actually quite rare elsewhere.

      Most importantly, China does not run on that model at all. The Chinese Communist Party owns the government and military, which in turn owns almost all of the industry and technology.

      Imagine if the NSA got into the business of building cell phone network equipment using chips produced by the Air Force Cyber Command's semiconductor foundry and financed as a joint venture by the CIA and the Pentagon. No big deal, right?

      Huawei is not owned by the Chinese state. It is owned by the company's employees, Ren Zhengfei (founder & CEO) and some of the managers with the latter two probably owning a majority of the shares. The Company employees shares are managed by the employee union.

    6. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      So the main difference is that in China the government controls big companies, and in the US the big companies control the government.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      China uses economics to create "soft power". Where the US would send in the CIA to organize a coup or assassinate someone, China offers loans and builds infrastructure and does a lot of our manufacturing.

      --
      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:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real problem would be finding evidence that American companies can be trusted, eh?

      That's a good point. As a European, and after Snowden, I would not be surprised that backdoors are present in US equipment as well. So who do we allow to spy on us? 10 years ago, I would say without a doubt the US. These days it seems like a tough choice.

      Let's assume the worst, the Chinese government has installed backdoors in Huwawei equipment. With some creativity, the US has ... installed an additional back door in the Huwawei equipment. In a way, it makes it easier: buy the equipment from the suplier that gives the most value for money?

    9. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please name those models and their purchase years. I've had a Moto, several Samsungs and am now on my second LG. All of them have been supported for at least 2 years after I bought them. Well, technically not the second LG, since I've only owned it for 2 months.

      Either you're buying phones that have been out for quite a while and near the end of their support life or you're full of shit. I guess they could also be from some no name brand as well that just doesn't support their devices.

    10. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Huawei is not owned by the Chinese state. It is owned by the company's employees, Ren Zhengfei (founder & CEO) and some of the managers with the latter two probably owning a majority of the shares. The Company employees shares are managed by the employee union.

      The structure is a bit murky:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei#Ownership

    11. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Meng Wanzhou than what has been previously reported. Known in the country as "Princess Meng," her grandfather, who was vice governor of China’s largest province, was a close friend to Chairman Mao during the Chinese Civil War. The New York Post calls her "Communist royalty." And currently, she is being groomed to succeed her dad, Ren Zhengfei, as chairman of Huawei. Don't forget that the company is the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, and the global leader in networking equipment.

      But there is more. The Post article calls Huawei a "spy agency" for the Communist party and reaches this conclusion by noting that the Communist party has called for all companies in the country to join forces to gather information. Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law states that "All organizations and citizens must support, assist with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the national intelligence work secrets they are privy to."

      https://nypost.com/2018/12/22/...

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    12. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real problem would be finding evidence that American companies can be trusted, eh?

      From the purely economic perspective, China has the most to lose if they allow any private companies to get involved in spying.

      Einstein was right: human stupidity is boundless.

      Ignoring all the reports of international businesses and colleges/universities saying Chinese actors stole some of their shit, you honestly believe China does not employ non-state actors in spying?

      China, where you dont own the land.
      China, where foreign companies must be shared with the gov't.
      China, where local companies must be shared with the gov't.
      China, where IP theft is rampant.
      China, where you can go missing for "taxes" (and you'll later issue a public apology).
      China, where you can be sent to "re-education camps".
      China, where your "social score" can bar you from products and services (like riding a train or flying).
      China, where the president can say "you know what, let's extend my term indefinitely".
      China, where they've stated their goal is economic and technological leadership/dominance.

      Yes, clearly China is a country that would never think about employing non-state actors in spying.

    13. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by shanen · · Score: 1

      Very succinct response, though I suspect you're trying to argue with a troll. While I agree with you, I think there is actually an adversarial element involved because the corporations (and the fools who think they own and control the corporations rather than vice versa) are locked into the single dimension of money. Therefore they are focused on buying the cheapest politicians, which ultimately evolved into "investing" most of their money in the former Republican Party. Yes, they still make some donations to Democrats, but I think those are more like insurance payments than investments.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    14. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by shanen · · Score: 1

      Another short and insightful reply, but where are the mod points. (In my own case, I think they they've been permanently removed.)

      And yet no one in this discussion has offered any constructive suggestions on the primary topic. I still have no idea what to do about Huawei's terrible customer support for my latest (and possibly final) Huawei device. They actually sent me email offering to exchange it, which is NOT what I want. Near as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with it, but I just don't understand it properly.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    15. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by shanen · · Score: 1

      In general that website is not a credible source, though it is possible the specific author is an outlier. If you want to cite such sources, you need to include something to indicate that you or the source are worth paying attention to.

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    16. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by shanen · · Score: 1

      Unclear what you are tying to say. About the most charitable interpretation I can imagine is that you are confused about reverse engineering and standardization. The entire IP question is a can of worms that I did not particularly want to open here.

      My (intended) focus was on Huawei's pretenses of being an international company...

      --
      Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
    17. Re:Does evidence of bad customer service count? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Huawei is not a private company. It is a state-run institution. The only private companies in China are small to medium operations. Everything big enough to be strategically important is owned and/or managed by the Chinese army or the Chinese Communist Party.

      Americans tend to assume that the rest of the world is like the US, but it isn't. Here, we have private companies. They are usually willing to cooperate to some extent with the government, but they are still mostly privately owned and managed. That is approximately the current situation throughout most of Western Civilization, but it is actually quite rare elsewhere.

      Most importantly, China does not run on that model at all. The Chinese Communist Party owns the government and military, which in turn owns almost all of the industry and technology.

      Imagine if the NSA got into the business of building cell phone network equipment using chips produced by the Air Force Cyber Command's semiconductor foundry and financed as a joint venture by the CIA and the Pentagon. No big deal, right?

      Then again, any major corporation of any modern country will have tie connection with the state. If you think the US runs a completely different model then I have to disagree with you.

  10. wtf i love chinese espionage now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Orange Man say china bad, therefore china good

  11. Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by ffkom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The allegations against Huawei are as credible as the Bloomberg Story on spy chips on SuperMicro boards and the reports on WMDs in Iraq.

    Sure one has to assume back-doors exist in network equipment and handle the risks - but in Cisco hardware, such back-doors (as trivial as "default passwords") pop up like every other month, even before the NSA tampers with the devices during shipment.

    1. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ffkom, so if Huawei DOES turn out to have operated a subsidiary shell corporation to evade US sanctions law.. does that mean YOU HAVE NO CREDIBILITY, IN FACT, IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS?

    2. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe after the liar is impeached and jailed first. Remember there also isn't a valid reason why that country is re-sanctioned.

    3. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      We should explore the validity of said sanctions law, not just swallow it whole.

    4. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The law is the law. You operate under US law if you do business in the US. It's straightforward. Now whether or not there should BE a law is a political decision, debate that all you want. Not whether one was broken. It was.

      They set up a shell corporation to do this, it's consciousness of guilt and the person they arrested is literally the CFO. That's as close to that decision as you can get.

      Whether or not Huawei can be trusted has been established over a half dozen times in the public record. They are thieves and spies. They aren't that shy about it.

      See what their CEO said the other day, read it out loud. Tell me that's normal CEO talk for a company accused of fraud, spying, and theft.

      Now note that it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese Communist Party, and re-read that CEO statement.

      Think. How is that a CEO's statement?

    5. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sanctions don't have to be valid, they're policy. If Huawei says it's unfair and petitions to overturn it, that's absolutely one thing. Violating it surreptitiously is another.

      Or do laws have no meaning and it's whatever, from now on? Think hard kids.

      Yes, Trump will die in prison. Yes, Manafort will die in prison.

      Unrelated frauds.

    6. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too much Judge Dredd?

    7. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, there's no end of reasons why China should be sanctioned, from human rights to political abuse in hong kong, taiwan, to fiscal predatory practices though out the world. Basically a rogue state.

    8. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL, there's no end of reasons why US should be sanctioned, from human rights to political abuse in Iraq, Mexico (build that wall), to fiscal predatory practices though out the world. Basically a rogue state.

      See statements like yours are essentially bullsh!t.

    9. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The law is the law. You operate under US law if you do business in the US. It's straightforward. Now whether or not there should BE a law is a political decision, debate that all you want. Not whether one was broken. It was.

      But this is how you get unconstitutional laws overturned. You violate them. You go to court. You demonstrate that the law conflicts with prior treaties and agreements and get it thrown out.

      So Huawei gets dragged into court accused of violating UN sanctions against Iran. What is the US justification for those sanctions? Violation of a nuclear proliferation agreement? Prove it was violated. You can't. If the sanctions were not based on actual evidence then they are political and therefore illegal under global trade agreements.

    10. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The sanctions are bullshit. If they can be circumvented they should be, like any other blockage, at minimal risk to personnel of course, but if they can fake it, more power to 'em, and fuck the tyrants who put up the blockades!

    11. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or do laws have no meaning and it's whatever, from now on?

      If the law is unjust, it deserves no respect. There is no obligation to obey bad law, on the contrary, bad law must be openly violated. Grant no quarter to tyranny. The majority must respect the minority. Think hard indeedy!

    12. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm amazed that you were able to type that with Chomsky's dick in your mouth and Zinn's dick in your ass.

    13. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is a US sanction an unConstitutional law? Good luck with that lol. They proved sanctions, the law that backs sanctions, was violated by a shell company wholly owned and controlled by Huawei, which is in turn by ChiCom.

      You either don't know what you're talking about, can't read, won't read, or have serious mental challenges the likes of which the world has never seen, to quote a traitor.

    14. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NO, But the onus is on the US to provide said evidence. If they can't even provide enough evidence for a lapdog like the UK to swallow it then chances are good no such evidence exists.

    15. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      Ffkom, so if Huawei DOES turn out to have operated a subsidiary shell corporation to evade US sanctions law.. does that mean YOU HAVE NO CREDIBILITY, IN FACT, IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS?

      Found the CIA shill.

      Related:

      When goods don't cross borders, armies will. - Otto T. Mallery

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    16. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Whether or not Huawei can be trusted has been established over a half dozen times in the public record"

      Half a dozen? How many reports did you read on google and the US government (Snowden)? What do you say about these entities?

    17. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      Sanctions don't have to be valid, they're policy.

      So, you're saying that it is okay for a nation to lie to justify hostile policies against other nations? Well, excuse me, but that goes against both the spirit and the letter of practically all international law. Any nation that does that should be shunned, including yours.

    18. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I said a lot. You don't know me. You're playing whattaboutism, and it won't be allowed to work. What I've said about Huawei pales in comparison to the criticisms I've had for the US banking system/regime, for a single example.

    19. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, try reading what you quote. There is a VALID way to protest or overturn sanctions. Sneakily violating them is not the valid way. If you want to claim a valid attack on an invalid law, you can do so from a valid position.

      China's Communist Party has a long way to get to their first valid position as a country, instead of what they are now, a thieving ethnostate criminal cabal without laws.

    20. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So if Huawei violated US laws and he's lying, somehow pointing that out makes me a CIA shill? Gee. Do I get a gun and badge and all the spy gear too? Sweet.

      Or you're a simpleton apologist making a crude smear who doesn't even bother read up on the topic first but chimes in anyway, whichever is more likely reality Bill.

      Course I'm CIA, this is slashdot. Fuckwit.

    21. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      I'm reading it again: "Sanctions don't have to be valid". That is, the justification for them can be made up. This is unacceptable and should be shunned, and this is exactly what the two countries mentioned in TFS are doing.

      You can't weasel yourself out of it by whataboutism and references to the "Communist scare".

      As for this "thieving ethnostate criminal cabal without laws" thingy that you're talking about... That actually smells and sounds a lot like a PNAC US cabinet, the third edition of which is in power and is behind these "sanctions" and the fake "justifications" for them. They, incidentally, sound a lot like the "justifications" that one Mr. Collin Powell presented with some test tubes at the UN a few years back.

    22. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Sanctions don't have to be valid" - to still be the law, which violating is not the way to undo. If you seek to undo sanctions, you don't do that by violating them secretly or incompetently, either one. It's basic.

      You keep pretending to be more retarded even than you actually are. I don't see the benefit for your argument. It's a basic point, you can't avoid it.

      Violating sanctions is not how you make sanctions-violating business practices legal. There are means to accomplish that in our lobbyism-run bureaucracy that are weaker and leakier than China's party-direct bribery system.

      They didn't even attempt it. They literally think they can steal IP forever, spy, poach employees, avoid legal notices of violation, and then visit Canada like it's nothing. So they get educated, now you do too.

    23. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So does Huawei, except they have NDA's to stop companies who buy from them from disclosing it.
      Source, I used to security test Huawei hardware for a large telco for years. Nothing I reported during that period *ever* was disclosed, but it was every bit as damming as things in the news on Cisco or other large telco hardware names.

      Please note the Brits are saying they "can manage the risk", not that there is NO risk. This means that BT who operate the national network in the UK want to sell out their subscribers because Huawei give them a really cheap price (and have them under strict NDA).

    24. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "What is the US justification for those sanctions?"

      Beside the point? The sanctions exist.

    25. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Murica Uber Alles! Rah! Rah!

    26. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      You're confusing the argument here. Before the legality is the issue of the legitimacy. The legitimacy of the US "sanctions" comes from the old and tired idea that "might makes right". Now, it is very shortsighted to argue legitimacy from this point of view, because legitimacy should be based on principles and not on circumstances.

      "Might" is transient, and the US has already weakened considerably since the peak of its power in the late 40s and the early 50s of the 20th century. In another 2 decades, or maybe even less, other players will be able to make the same argument, and the US will be forced to swallow it.

      This is how the US is "educating" China. I can only hope you'll still be happy when the fruits of this "education" bite your anonymous smart ass.

    27. Re:Spy chips on SuperMicro boards and WMDs in Iraq by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There WERE WMDs in Iraq. The CIA sent people there to buy some. There was also a big health problem with troops stumbling on the caches of them and needing hospitalization.
       
      Further, Iraq themselves WANTED people to believe there were WMDs because that was their projection of power against Iran. Even if they didn't have any, which is false, they certainly projected that image.

  12. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You must have a lot of time on your hands to browse Slashdot at -1. And then complain about said posts.

  13. Me So Solly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trumps response:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kx6-NzLpf0

  14. Re:"catering to surging populism" by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    You must be new here.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  15. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'll always be old here, until you croak and are "surely missed" right? lol. I'm thinking next week sometime.

  16. BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

    Why is the USA letting the BND and GCHQ say no to US directions on Communist telecom equipment?

    The NSA allowed the BND and GCHQ to grow. Their staff worked with the NSA/CIA for decades.
    This is how the BND and GCHQ responds to the USA after decades of US support and sharing?
    The USA asked Germany and the UK for one telco thing over the decades and the UK and Germany say no the USA?
    All the training, equipment, crypto help, tracking of the IRA and the UK says no after decades of free US support?
    All the help the USA tax payers gave West Germany with the Stasi and Soviet Union?

    Time for the USA to get its Special Relationship going with Canada and New Zealand.
    Give more supportive nations like New Zealand the full NSA upgrades and let Germany and the UK enjoy their Communist telecom equipment.
    5 eye nations that like the USA, the NSA and its decades of support. Nations that appreciate US tax payers support.

    The US supported the UK and West German, now Germany for decades.
    Now Germany and the UK will trade that US support all in for one generation of Communist telecom equipment?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The NSA *allowed* the BND and GCHQ to grow"... Is that what you think?

    2. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Time for the USA to get its Special Relationship going with Canada and New Zealand.
      Give more supportive nations like New Zealand the full NSA upgrades and let Germany and the UK enjoy their Communist telecom equipment.

      This is how you loose the support you have.
      You force your ideas onto someone else, and they look for others to be "friends", and more often then not those that your previous "friend" said is your enemy but didn't do anything to you or if they did it wasn't as bad as what your "friend" the USA did to you.

    3. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      or, all 3 of them, the US, Germany and Great Britain, are liberal democracies, and the military can't control the idiots in charge. Compare that to China, where the military has executive control of all corporations of any strategic interest, and there is no difference between senior party leadership and senior military leadership.

      Yes, politicians will be fucking idiots. That happens in liberal democracies.

    4. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What - "Time for the USA to get its Special Relationship going with Canada and New Zealand."

      Hells no keep to your side of border. Everyone knows corruption follows.

    5. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ROTFLMAO.
      When the French bombed the "Rainbow Warrior", where was the USA, that's right , saying nothing, doing nothing because New Zealand had gone antinuclear.
      The US even put in trade barriers (while giving China Favoured Nation Status).
      At the Peal Harbour remembrance, the New Zealand navy was not permitted to be in the military base but in the civilian port.
      The US has ben taken multiple times to the WTO (which the US set up for its benefit) by NZ to fight trade barriers, tariffs , agricultural subsidies, etc.

      We have a centre left government.
      We were the first country in the world to set up a welfare system, we have universal healthcare and education.
      But, we are more "free" than the USA, are more democratic, less crime, fewer murders, greater freedom of speech, freedom of the press, education, welfare, etc etc etc are all better than the USA.

      Trust me, we don't want to sink to the levels the USA is heading to.

      And we have Huawei routers and switches, and wireless access points in our universities.

      And have a look at this to see how well the USA treated the UK
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk_zpjK3cTo

      And understand that US citizens were the main supplier of weapons and money to the IRA.
      And the US has not only supported, but funded and equiped terrorists, though they called them freedom fighters, all over the world.
      The US only cares about the US, if they thought dropping a Nuke on London was the best for the US that plane would already be in the air.

    6. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The NSA allowed the BND and GCHQ to grow. Their staff worked with the NSA/CIA for decades.
      This is how the BND and GCHQ responds to the USA after decades of US support and sharing?

      Because your illustrious commander in chief thinks his own intelligence agencies are morons. Why shouldn't everyone else?

    7. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whaddya expect? Europe is a bunch badly disguised commies. The smart ones left and built the great country of America, the real one, not that phony bullshit south of the Rio Grande. But unfortunately Americans had to go back to Europe to beat them into submission and enforce the peace for the last 74 years. Personally I would say let them deal with the Russians, live with empty store shelves and no heat. See how long that lasts.

      Anyway, don't believe the bullshit. Business is being conducted normally while the drama plays out in the tabloids.

    8. Re: BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The French bombed a pirated ship. Big fucking deal. They should have seized it and hung the crew for piracy.

    9. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by AHuxley · · Score: 0

      AC it was the very advanced US tech that let the UK track all of the to the IRA in real time.
      Something the US had to allow the UK to do.
      US tech like that has access controls. The UK was allowed to borrow some US tech for a time.
      Only then could the SAS move in.
      The UK thanks the US by going full Communist.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    10. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, man, if you think buying some networking gear from China is "going full communist", wait until you hear about this universal healthcare thing we've got going on!

    11. Re: BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by edris90 · · Score: 1

      Holy shit, a true blue, dyed in the wool, blind misguided patriot crusader.. the most destructive of fools..

    12. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      AC the UK invited in full US support.
      West Germany and Germany had to accept full US support.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    13. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit.
      During the 1970's the UK was anything up to 10 years ahead of the USA on surveillance

      I am also assuming you know that Russia did far more to win WWII than the USA did.

    14. Re:BND and GCHQ say no to the NSA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are an excellent illustration of how much of an indoctrination device the US education system has become.

  17. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    " I am sure Huawei spies. Most tech companies do. " - Ok... do most companies spy for China's Communist Party?...

    No, most of them spy for the US's Republicrat party (which is in turn just a mouthpiece for the financial cartel).

  18. ^ This. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When the British are willing to publicly turn their nose at their 'ally' in a big way like this, you know it is bad.

    Personally, having used rooted Huawei phones, and having previously had them be one of the few phone companies to allow unlocking without having to phone in, I can say that Huawei phones are/were nicely engineered, had unique features compared to their competitors and were immensely reliable (I only stopped using mine after misplacing it for a few weeks, and having a replacement purchased for me.)

    Having said that, the US and its corporations are more of an immediate threat to my security and freedom than the Chinese are. If they really want everyone backing their horse, they need us to not feel like we're just getting their brand instead of the Chinese one.

    1. Re:^ This. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "When the British are willing to publicly turn their nose at their 'ally' in a big way like this, you know it is bad."

      Pfft. For all you know this could be planned to make it look like a "chink" in the UKUSA armor that they then monitor for counter-exploitation by the ChiComs.

      Huawei is already on public notice. Their value as a secret tentacle has been blown apart already, Meng in jail for sanctions fraud, yeah. Great job 00-porkbun.

      The "Trump University" of Chinese spying operations. Caught 6+ times stealing code, Orange Telekom spying, then Ren's "Down with the West" shit? Lol.

      Let them have Huawei hardware up their ass,now everyone knows it's there that's kind of moot anyway.

      https://thehill.com/policy/international/430877-putin-suggests-us-deep-state-working-against-trump

      Yeah nobody noticed what's going on there either.

    2. Re:^ This. by mentil · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just because the backdoor was left open by China, doesn't mean they're the only ones who can walk in. Isn't that what we've been saying about "government-mandated backdoors" all along? Who's to say an American TLA won't use the same backdoor to find/plant incriminating evidence on your phone?

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    3. Re:^ This. by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "When the British are willing to publicly turn their nose at their 'ally' in a big way like this, you know it is bad."

      Especially since more than enough support has been released publicly to refute those claims.

    4. Re:^ This. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the British are willing to publicly turn their nose at their 'ally' in a big way like this, you know it is bad.

      Hahaha ... You've obviously missed this whole "Brexit" thing, where the British are actively turning their noses at their 26 closest allies.

    5. Re:^ This. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the US and its corporations are more of an immediate threat to my security and freedom than the Chinese are.

      I take it youre not Chinese.

      Or American.

      Or from any western country.

    6. Re:^ This. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When the British are willing to publicly turn their nose at their 'ally' in a big way like this, you know it is bad.

      Oh, that is complete fucking bullshit ... Americans seems to think 'ally' means uncritically doing whatever America says, all while saying "fuck you, we come first".

      Sorry, but the US has been increasingly acting like assholes to their 'allies', and has failed to provide proof of their claims that satisfied the intelligence agencies.

      The whiny American president may think that he's owed obedience, and stupid fucking Americans might like to think this is some kind of betrayal ... but this is really just a case of a country making their own choices, in their own interest, based on the real evidence they'be been shown.

      You need to understand something ... outside of the US, the rest of the world increasingly doesn't give a fuck what America wants. If you want your allies to follow your lead, provide some fucking evidence.

      Stop throwing tantrums that you're not getting your own way, we don't give a damn what your petulant childish country wants these days. We're certainly not going to blindly follow you when you make unsubstantiated claims like you seem to think we should.

      As it is, Trump pretty much undercut the case for extradition of the lady from Huawei from Canada when he offered to use it as leverage in trade negotiations. How can Canada possibly follow any extradition request if the US is going to publicly politicize the process?

      There's shockingly little reason to trust the US these days.

  19. Re: UKUSA, I'm familiar. Read about this or don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're funny!

  20. Re:UKUSA, I'm familiar. Read about this or don't. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow you're an angry anonymous coward. Woosa, have you tried some Chinese noodle soup? Very good in the winter or even some Pho.

  21. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spot on. All those large successful chinese companies exist by the CCP's grace.

  22. Re:UKUSA, I'm familiar. Read about this or don't. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    China's government is the enemy of Chinese people in my country. YMMV, but I don't think it actually does. Pho is Vietnamese. Clue in anytime guailo, you're supposed to snort tiger wang, not suck it, yang.

  23. It's because they're not ZTE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Huawei's problem is that they didn't figure out how to transfer $500,000,000 to Trump's family like ZTE did.

    1. Re:It's because they're not ZTE by ghoul · · Score: 2

      They already paid the Clintons. They dont want to pay again

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
  24. Both Britain and Germany NEED Huawei though by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To help spy on all their new "imports" and see if they're planning any random acts of peace and diversity spreading...

  25. HUH? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Catering to the surging populism"

    WTF? Uhh citation please?

  26. information by mahnoor28 · · Score: 1

    thanks for sharing this plot for sale in g14

  27. Whataboutism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    even though the National Security Agency

    Nothing the NSA has done in the past, to anyone, has any bearing whatsoever on the legitimacy of any accusations against Huawei.

    1. Re:Whataboutism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It has substantial relevance to whether we'll trust you enough to take you at your word and accept these accusations without evidence though.

  28. Re:"catering to surging populism" by _merlin · · Score: 1

    Why does Huawei have to abide by sanctions that China isn't a party to? US law applies to the US, not the whole world. US spies all the time and treats its so-called allies with contempt. Remember the debacle over US tapping German chancellor's phone.

  29. Yeah the US government of Poland too. etc. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    https://www.businessinsider.com/second-huawei-employee-arrested-in-poland-on-suspicion-of-china-spying-2019-1

  30. The people have already proven the wrongdoing fool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/12/12/three-hong-kong-passports-arrested-huawei-exec-meng-wanzhou-revealed-canadian-court/
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/07/meng-wanzhou-huawei-cfo-court-bail-fraud-sanctions-breach-canada
    https://www.businessinsider.com/second-huawei-employee-arrested-in-poland-on-suspicion-of-china-spying-2019-1
    https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2177512/huawei-and-skycom-firm-accused-breaching-us-sanctions-shared-web
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-huawei-tech/huawei-units-to-be-arraigned-on-u-s-criminal-charges-on-feb-28-idUSKCN1PN2WP
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/third-canadian-detained-in-china-following-arrest-of-huawei-exec-2018-12-19
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/arthurherman/2018/12/10/huaweis-and-chinas-dangerous-high-tech-game/

  31. Boy who let the wolf in, better title. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/12/12/three-hong-kong-passports-arrested-huawei-exec-meng-wanzhou-revealed-canadian-court/
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/07/meng-wanzhou-huawei-cfo-court-bail-fraud-sanctions-breach-canada
    https://www.businessinsider.com/second-huawei-employee-arrested-in-poland-on-suspicion-of-china-spying-2019-1
    https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2177512/huawei-and-skycom-firm-accused-breaching-us-sanctions-shared-web
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-huawei-tech/huawei-units-to-be-arraigned-on-u-s-criminal-charges-on-feb-28-idUSKCN1PN2WP
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/third-canadian-detained-in-china-following-arrest-of-huawei-exec-2018-12-19
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/arthurherman/2018/12/10/huaweis-and-chinas-dangerous-high-tech-game/

    1. Re:Boy who let the wolf in, better title. by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      Mod informative

    2. Re:Boy who let the wolf in, better title. by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Almost all of those links except one or two is about the US sanctions breach, that no one but the US cares about.

  32. US Industry==US Governmnt by ghoul · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you think US Industry and US Government are not connected when the corporations basically buy the elections for their favorit politicians than I have a bridge to sell you. US National Security is defined as whatever is good for US business. Huawei was alright till it was making copies of Western Tech. Now that they have actually overtaken and hold most of the 5G patents they are bad for US business and hence bad for US National Security.
    Whether the companies are state owned or the state is company owned in neither China or the US system do you have independent govt and industry.

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
    1. Re:US Industry==US Governmnt by Shaitan · · Score: 1

      "If you think US Industry and US Government are not connected when the corporations basically buy the elections for their favorit politicians than I have a bridge to sell you. US National Security is defined as whatever is good for US business. "

      It is a completely different thing. Politicians are sold on the free market as well in the US and they battle each other, whatever is helping one company or industry is hurting another. The form of business and government interaction that is of concern in the US is of concern mostly on a domestic basis. Internationally it really is just occasional support on major economic issues and that is no secret. In China a government official can take over the board room.

  33. Re:"catering to surging populism" by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Why does Huawei have to abide by sanctions that China isn't a party to?

    They (allegedly) resold American technology to Iran in violation of the licensing contract, and in violation of American law.

  34. Re:"catering to surging populism" by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    do most companies spy for China's Communist Party?

    Why do you care? What is the CCP going to do to you?

    You have far more to fear from your own government.

  35. Re:"catering to surging populism" by WoTG · · Score: 1

    They also allegedly dragged tricked a bank with US operations (HSBC related) into violating the Iran embargo by financing the sales into Iran. Apparently that's classed as fraud.

  36. Re:It's naive to think foreign designs are no thre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One of the few things I'll give to the US is that they do Open Source pretty well, both in terms of the quality of available software and following the appropriate license terms.

    If you've had any dealings with Chinese companies, on the other hand, you'll know that they're very good at appropriating Open Source software as their own and never making contributions back to the original projects, nor making their changes available to their customers. Creality seems to be one of the few exceptions to this, but this only happened after they got publicly shamed - and somebody in the company actually cared enough to change their internal policies.

  37. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/1...

    "A number of financial institutions, including JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and international banks, were all judged guilty and paid enormous fines for violating sanctions in the last several years," Roach told CNBC's Eunice Yoon on Friday. "None of their executives, of course, went to jail — why is Huawei being singled out for the sanctions violations?"

    Because it's only bad when other countries do it...

  38. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your assessment is bullshit. You lied about blood plasma yesterday, you lied about the Chinese pest eradication regime, you lie daily and assert bullshit from a position of unread ignorance of the topic.

  39. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah when you use a shell company you're pretending not to own, but do, to do it, it is fraud. Trumptards may give fraud a pass, the law does not. Sorry traitors.

  40. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who said that? Huawei tried to rebuff the charges and their officers tried to hide from US jurisdiction. WFB and JPM paid fines, that means they faced their charges in court and didn't try to outrun the cops.

    It's a huge difference you dishonest twit. And that's NOT a defense of JPM or WFB, those are scumbag operations that the US should dissolve ALSO.

    Playing whattabout JPM and WFB is a good distraction but that's a change of topic from Huawei. All can be guilty. Why are you dishonestly pretending otherwise?

    GFY

  41. Actually, harming the artist is half the point. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Copyyright is not an authors' right. It is a distributors' privilege to a temporary monopoly (rememeber: otherwise a crime for good reasons) for the purpose of erecting an (de-facto inenforceable) artificial scarcity (another crime), to make something infinitely abundant (and hence worthless) into something that you can squeeze money out of, without actually having to work yourself.
    A profit multiplier.
    Just make the artist work once, ideally pay him once (or pay tiny silly amounts like <3%), but make the licensee pay an infinite amount of times (for which he usually also had to pay an infinite amount of times, unless he's making his money in similar not honest ways).
    It's a license to "print" money.

    And they could just have used the same business model as every other service business uses since the dawn of commerce. You work once, you get paid once. Works for everything from prostitution to fixing a car to building apartment complexes.
    Needed a lot of money? Well, so did others too. And yet they aren't calling the repair on your car their "property", nor demand that everybody who drives in that car has to pay 20 cent until the end of the universe!

    Ask every artist: The biggest enemy of the artist industry is the media/distribution industry. An industry that lost its point with the Internet, and since its very beginnings only existed to leech on artists through the power of being an investor.
    Which nobody needs anymore nowadays. There's Kickstarter, Patreon, marketing firms to help you with getting publicity, and if all you do is e.g. music, the tools are afforable to anyone who can afford a computer.

    The whole idea of "intellectual property"... whose conception I had to observe personally in the 2000s ... only stems from that situation, and their panic that they would not be able to keep leeching, after MP3s, Napster and Scour Exchange woke them up hard.
    See, I worked in those industries. Music, film and games. And cocaine is as normal as drinking soda in the summer used to be. Whose side-effects are massive over-confidence (they think they are entitled to that leeched profit) and extreme paranoia ("everybody's stealing from us! waah!").

    And that's all it is.
    No artists involves except as victims, and now a new generation who sadly grew into the brainwashing propaganda, think " intellectual property" is real, and now believe they need to act like that too.

    1. Re:Actually, harming the artist is half the point. by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      There's Kickstarter, Patreon,

      Yes, let's disrupt the boring old business model of artists getting paid for stuff they sell because people like it, and replace it with a return to begging.

      Sorry, begging on the internet.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  42. Your link is the Washington Post. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, such credibility. Much trust. Heil..., I mean Wow!

    Wanna bet the UK did no such thing, and it takes some quite creative spin doctoring to produce such a statement that's still swallowable.

    1. Re:Your link is the Washington Post. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why you should always read the whole article. GCHQ explicitly deny having any knowledge of malicious backdoors in Huawei equipment.

  43. Hey, USA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Germany here. Lizzen. We don't throw out people for spying on us. After all, your CIA headquarters -- uh -- Berlin embassy is still there, after you listening in on Merkel's phone, you baddy-baddy.

  44. About more than spying by tomtomtom · · Score: 1

    The problem the US have with Huawei is about more than whether they have been spying or not - it's about the fact that the US as a nation have lost control of the technology because the Chinese are the only credible firms producing 5G equipment. That means that they can control or break the standards in subtle ways, and then deliberately make it much harder or impossible for US (or other non-Chinese) firms to compete on a level playing field (by making only Chinese equipment truly cross-compatible). I don't know if this is actually happening but it is a legitimate concern - it's like the difference between Microsoft's OOXML vs ODF - the OOXML standard is technically open but it's close to impossible to truly implement something which is properly cross-compatible with MS Office.

    A level playing field with open and transparent standards is something we should all be concerned to maintain because the next logical stage will be for the firms benefiting from the closed standard is to leverage that "lockin" to raise prices.

  45. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    The US government and US businesses are separate entities, that is a very big difference. The companies spying don't have the resources of the state at their disposal or the inclination to sell what they find to the state (not that China has anything to steal) and tapping the phone of the German chancellor isn't exactly a shocker. Germany has had some fairly nasty Chancellor's in the past.

  46. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    Because China isn't punishing but rather encouraging them due to the tight ties between the state and business in China.

  47. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    Which would also be in violation of international law.

  48. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Shaitan · · Score: 2

    I don't know, devalue their currency to steal our jobs and manufacturing, use that advantage to steal our manufacturing technology, hack our infrastructure/businesses, international business, steal our ICBM technology, industrial and tech IP, and siphon our wealth. Of and hire a sockpuppet using the nick "ShanghaiBill"

  49. Re:It's naive to think foreign designs are no thre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only sensible post here.

    Do not trust Huawei. Do not trust Cisco. End of story.

  50. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So which US network companies are providing capable and already working 5G infrastructure equipment for Chinese companies to steal?

  51. This is what I said from the start by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If the US wants us to stop using Huawei all they have to do is provide evidence of spying.
    If they do that we will stop using Huawei instantly. They are our ally, why is it so hard for them to provide proof?

    1. Re: This is what I said from the start by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are hundreds of examples of them spying. There was just an article on slashdot of their spying practices and how they offer cash incentives for employees to steal competitors IP. How dense can you be?

  52. Re:It's naive to think foreign designs are no thre by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    It isn't like they do much. They make censored state versions of a few things and they adapt some software to run on their cheap knock off devices.

  53. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of them?

  54. What about Cisco, where there is evidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is there any decision on Cisco? Juniper? They have both been proven definitely, and repeatedly to insert back-doors into their telecom equipment.

    The question now is what kind of flippant false-flag sabotage operation America will engage in, to further hurt Huawei and try to save their own Cisco and Juniper, and access to foreign countries communications.

  55. What evidence do you need, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    isn't our word good for it anymore? Oh well, its time to free British and German people from their cruel oppressive regimes - what their are doing to their people is horrible. We just need to buy a few 'friends' to help us first.

  56. Owned by the GOVERNMENT! by Gabest · · Score: 1

    People often forget that most telecommunication companies used to be owned by their own government before 1990, and there are still many in Western Europe. Deutsche Telekom, present in the USA, has 38% state ownership. Do you care about German spies? Nope.

  57. Spying potential scapegoat by spinitch · · Score: 1

    Convenient paranoia. Use interoperable global standard equipment and donâ(TM)t over rely on any suppliers. Huawei could be useful for promoting competition lower $ and by allowing minority equipment. Likewise China will feel compelled to reciprocate buying Nokia and Ericsson. Better than a trade war.

  58. good... by dwater · · Score: 1

    ...now the UK just have to stop threatening to send their war ships into sensitive areas[1] and that'll help avoid pissing off the Chinese and perhaps help them post Brexit.

    [1] If they really want to ensure freedom of navigation, why not send a dirt great oil tanker or something? TBH, I imagine there are very many British ships going through those seas every day. Is there any evidence of the Chinese trying to prevent *anyone* using those waters? ...anyone who isn't an obvious threat to them, that is.

    --
    Max.
  59. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Vlad_the_Inhaler · · Score: 1

    It is when the AC trolling inbreds start coming out in force that /. needs to start thinking about banning a/c posts on a story-by-story basis. Any story which meets certain criteria *is* going to be inundated with this kind of trolling, something which is predictable.
    Of course that just raises the bar a little.

    --
    Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
  60. Bigger issues by LostMyAccount · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Britain is facing Brexit and a bunch of trade and economic issues. They'd rather stay in the good graces of the Chinese, the idea being they can replace stuff they would have bought from Europe with Chinese goods. And then there's the idea that if they don't get on board with 5G at a price point they can afford, their economic disadvantages will be worse yet.

    The Germans probably figure they're just too smart to worry about hacked Chinese equipment, especially if they can isolate it with some good homegrown or European sourced technology. Plus they may well have come up with counter-espionage techniques that defeat Russian and American penetration that defeating the Chinese can't be any harder.

    And in both cases, we can blame Trump's idiotic foreign policy for some of this. I'd wager if we had made Britain feel like they had a trade ally in Brexit and not shit all over German foreign policy, they might have gone along with us on Chinese telecom equipment.

  61. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

    Thats censorship. I thought slashdot was above censorship? Or is it only OK when you want to do it?

  62. Wireless devices vs infrastructure by spinitch · · Score: 1

    Mobile phones are a minor risk since easy to replace and detect. Infrastructure a bigger concern since harder to rip out. Democracies should ensure their vendors are less susceptible to influence to avoid over reliance. China and lately India limit foreign influence so prevalent behavior. Then there is Sketchy Corp behavior with IP and sanctions violations as another concern. But even US Cos sue each other over IP like Qualcomm vs Apple.

  63. First one is wrongdoing by USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The second is nothing new for the USA either.
    Third one is nothing new for the USA.
    Fourth one is just an allegation. Not proof.
    Fifth is the USA acting as judge, jury and executioner without proving the guilt first. IOW same as the first one.
    Sixth, ditto.
    Seventh no different from what canada did, so nothing new there. USA did it too several times.
    Eighth is a claim again, not a proof.

  64. It's censorship. So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kiddie porn ban is censorship. Don't hear you claiming slashdot must change that.

  65. Re:"catering to surging populism" by jellomizer · · Score: 0

    I think the average age for Slashdot is now over 40 years old. Many have been jaded from once being the cool trendy tech kids of the 1990's during the .COM Boom. To having most their jobs outsourced to India in the early 2000's, and the remaining jobs went from having a seat at the C table, to working in the companies "Cost Center" where you need to beg for funding for a project. They see people with funny accents, and look different then us, doing the work that we got laid off from doing.
    The 1990's culture for kids were Bro, EXTREME!, Shock, Sarcastic, and in General just being mean, this culture allowed for a new form or racism to flourish, as part of a shock and your not allowed to say that. But over time, with it combined with real hate, has poisoned our soles.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  66. If it's not given to fed, it's states only by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since such sanctions aren't in the constitution, it is a states thing. Each state should be sanctioning, not the federal government.

  67. Stupid Germans and British by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why do I think the Germans and British are stupid? Better yet ignorant. Either they haven't been following all the technology Huawei has been documented in stealing or don't care about political prisoners being executed by the communist nor about the 2,000,000+ Muslims in concentration camps. Doing business with such a country is nothing to worry about?

    1. Re:Stupid Germans and British by RuiFRibeiro · · Score: 1

      Cisco, Microsoft and Intel also have been documented doing things. What rant do you plan to write as an AC about that?

  68. Re:"catering to surging populism" by budsetr · · Score: 1

    "But over time, with it combined with real hate, has poisoned our soles." Buy new shoes??...

  69. Re:"catering to surging populism" by hackingbear · · Score: 1

    devalue their currency to steal our jobs and manufacturing,

    Anyone actually living in China can tell you that the country has been trying hard, really hard, to pop UP their currency, e.g. by restricting the annual maximum of foreign currency an individual can *send out* of China. Otherwise, Yuan would be worth as much as Yen. so you should thank them for popping up their currency, else made in China products would be much cheaper.

    use that advantage to steal our manufacturing technology,

    Joint venture requirement is allowed under WTO treaty which they and the US have both signed up to. And requiring tech transfer is not "steal". In practice, companies only transferred enough peripheral tech so to allow manufacturing to happen. If a manufacturer doesn't know how to make the product, how can it start manufacturing for you? the core tech such as source code and semiconductor design are still been done in the Silicon Valley and never transferred. In accordance with WTO commitments, China has gradually narrow down the catalogs of industries requiring JVs over time. Bottom line: walk away and give up the market or lower labor cost if you don't like the deal, China did not put a gun at your head, blame your own (or the top 1% Americans') greediness

    hack our infrastructure/businesses,

    Read the TFA

    international business,

    Maybe you learned your English writing in the fake US education system?

    steal our ICBM technology, industrial and tech IP, and siphon our wealth.

    So did the US

    Of and hire a sockpuppet using the nick "ShanghaiBill"

    Personal attack is a sign of paranoia

    I don't know,

    You are absolutely right on this! You don't know anything but keep spitting out BS.

  70. Re:US Industry==US Government by ghoul · · Score: 1

    Thats a distinction without a difference. Neither US is a capitalist country nor is China a Communist country. Both of them are Crony Capitalist or Fascist (Like Mussolinis Italy).
    Fascism without the racism comes down to state directed capitalism where the State instead of being a regulator (as in Capitalism) or owner (as in Communism) is a promoter of industry. State directed capitalism. Mostly directed through export licenses, tax incentives, tariffs, exemptions to worker laws.
    Nothing wrong with fascism (as long as you can keep the racism out of it) as it can lead to rapid progress like in Italy and Germany prior to WW2 (and prior to Hitler wasting resources on killing Jews) but please lets stop pretending that the US and Chinese systems are really different.

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
  71. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    "Anyone actually living in China can tell you that the country has been trying hard, really hard, to pop UP their currency, e.g. by restricting the annual maximum of foreign currency an individual can *send out* of China."

    That increases the value of their currency in reality, it does nothing for how they value their currency on international exchanges. When they start restricting the maximum amount of currency coming IN, value their currency appropriately on the foreign exchange, and start putting heavy tariffs on exports I'll start recognizing and applaud their efforts.

    "If a manufacturer doesn't know how to make the product, how can it start manufacturing for you?"

    You can't. That is a problem for the US how? But more than that, you can order a product to be made in China and watch your product appear sold by a chinese vendor on Alibaba within weeks. That is theft. In the case of software Chinese companies have horrendous records for contributing back to open source technologies. Regardless of whether you are technically acting legally or not there is such a thing as ethics, integrity, and self-respect. Design your own new technologies we haven't thought of yet and enrich the world. And yes, they steal our manufacturing technology, the minute the first chinese factory opened using modern US manufacturing techniques that wasn't owned by a US company that happened. You let our people train personal and learned how we worked and then copied it but you don't improve and give anything back, if anything you just cut corners.

    "Bottom line: walk away and give up the market or lower labor cost if you don't like the deal, China did not put a gun at your head, blame your own (or the top 1% Americans') greediness"

    Sounds good. Were you under the impression someone (sane, not weird trolls on slashdot) actually blames the actual people of China? Opposing our trade with China isn't really about hurting China, it's about helping us. It isn't about finding someone to blame. There is no reason for specific ill will toward China and any of that is just justification for taking the corrective actions we need to on the global stage.

    Currently the scale is tilted toward China and it is tilted that way largely through technology and advancement they gained from the US. Instead of showing gratitude and using that gift to come to the table as a friend and partner China is trying to steal our spot at the head of the table. I'm not saying China should never earn the head spot but I am saying China should never earn the head spot by simply taking our technology and exploiting their massive labor pool and poor labor practices.

  72. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Shaitan · · Score: 1

    "Personal attack is a sign of paranoia"

    No, his posting history indicates this is exactly what he is. He posts irrationally supportive responses including information ranging from misleading to outright false. It's called propaganda.

  73. The Australian farce? by jasonharrop · · Score: 1
    I wonder what role the Australian example played here?

    Is it the contradiction between, on the one hand, Oz gov won't use Huawei stuff since the Chinese might be spying, but on the other, Oz gov demands the ability for itself to spy/intercept?

    Or is it examples of what retaliation might look like, for example https://www.abc.net.au/news/20...

    Looks like the 5 eyes said "you first" to Oz, and now UK and NZ are saying "on second thoughts..." (yeah, I know this particular story mentions Germany, not NZ)

  74. USA already spies on them by strikethree · · Score: 1

    Remember when Obama was in office and there was outrage over spying on Angela Merkel's phone? Yeah, figured you forgot about that.

    So Germany can either get in bed with America again, where the Germans know for an absolute FACT that America will be spying on them... or, they could take a gamble on Huawei.

    As a government, I wouldn't trust either, but since they are not making the technology themselves, they will have to choose the lesser of the evils.

    --
    "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  75. Re:"catering to surging populism" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know, devalue their currency to steal our jobs and manufacturing,

    Nope, blame Walmart and the US EXIM Bank.

  76. Britain's new project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The use of Huawei products will be used by the british codename "Kim Philby".

  77. Re:"catering to surging populism" by hackingbear · · Score: 1

    When they start restricting the maximum amount of currency coming IN,

    Except that China is, and has been so most of last 4 decades, putting more effort restricting the outflow of foreign currencies. Your assertion has no base.

  78. Simple by xenobyte · · Score: 1

    If Huawei really is an innocently accused company that has nothing to do with the Chinese state and its intelligence branches, they should state so and if necessary move out of China to escape any forced cooperation. But this hasn't happened and to me it is a clear admission that all the rumors are true.

    --
    "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --