 aqk
join:2006-07-17
Elgin, QC
kudos:1
 ·Bell WiMAX
4 edits | HUAWEI in Canada. And right beside (900ft!) the USA border. Quote: In an exclusive interview in Washington, Michelle K. Van Cleave told CBC News the involvement of Huawei Technologies in Canadian telecom networks risks turning the information highway into a freeway for Chinese espionage against both the U.S. and Canada.
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OK. So, the following was sent to a couple of US security "reps", as well as US Homeland Security (Gad, they are tough to track down!)
let's see what response I'll get..
==== MESSAGE FOLLOWS ===
I live in Canada- specifically Quebec, right on the border of New York State- United States.
The border is defined more or less here by the 45th Parallel.
Last year I was informed that a string of Telecomm /Cellular towers would be soon built just inside the Canada/US border here.
One tower will be built just a half-mile from my house.
Bell Canada has already installed fiber-optic cable throughout the neighbourhood here, even though there are less than 400 people in my municipality of Elgin Quebec. At this point it is what is called "dark fiber" - i.e. it carries no high speed internet stuff, just old analog telephone signals.
Why is Bell Mobility building these towers? I already have a high-speed internet connection to a tower about 5 miles north of here, and most of the old folks in this neighbourhood aren't even interested in upgrading their old dialup internet connections, if they are indeed connected to the internet. Cell phones? I doubt any of these old fuddie-duddies even use these.
And there is EXCELLENT cellphone coverage on the nearby Route 138 highway.
So why the string of towers? It would be a lot - A LOT less expensive to install two or three "SLAMS" instead of erecting a STRING of these huge towers right on the US border.
I surmised that perhaps Bell Canada hoped to make some money from "Roaming charges" incurred by people in the United States. But most people thought that this also impractical. So why the towers along the border?
Then TODAY, things became a bit clearer: Canada recently signed a big contract with the Chinese Telecommunications company Huawei to put much of this infrastructure in place.
See the CBC news item »goo.gl/J9a3T for details. Wow.
Huawei? Installing equipment right along the US border, huh..?
I guess the Homeland Security Blackhawk and JetRanger helicoptors that now fly daily just south of here better get used to seeing these towers with the Chinese equipment in them.
Think about this
One tower is scheduled to be built at . N 45 - 00'13.44" , W xxxxxx"
View these coordinates using Google Maps.
I can supply approximate locations of the other towers if need be.
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- The Fibe 0.037 guy
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axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC | Very interesting, though they could just buy land and build towers in the US if they wanted to be closer to... whatever. You think it's to listen in on the border patrols? |
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aqk
join:2006-07-17
Elgin, QC
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Bell WiMAX
1 edit | Ummm.. HUH?
OK... lessee.. China arbitrarily buys land all over the US to put up their cell tower /spy posts? Hey- maybe a BIG one in downtown Washington also.
Maybe a Chinese Airport to run spyplanes out of, too!
Gosh! Why didn't I think of that?
Hellooo... ! If you did not read the above link / article, I'm sorry.
May I say "Whooosh"? ... right over your head.
HUAWEI are NOT allowed in the US. Or Australia. Or India.
Golly, the way you put it, why don't the Chinese just open up a whole internet spy shop in the US? Or maybe just fly spy planes all over the US?
Geeezz... who let YOU in here?
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- The Fibe 0.037 guy
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| reply to aqk
It's all crap. Huawei is a private company whose success lies with its integrity. The security threat is vastly overstated and no tampering/espionage issue has ever been documented.
I'd sooner believe that the US is trying to muddy the waters as to protect its own telecom equipment companies. So what if the founder has served in the Chinese army? Pretty sure Canada is on good terms with China anyways so this is just libel IMO. |
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| I've heard stories from employees of one of Huawei's competitors, and the topic of their espionage does occasionally come up.
Now, this is entirely hearsay but supposedly, for a while, wherever either Ericsson or Alcatel-Lucent would open offices, Huawei would too, within a few kilometers. This resulted in there being two Huawei branches in the same city, within a few km of each other. Furthermore, in their internal product feature roadmap, they started adding bogus features, because they noticed Huawei feature announcements to be rather interestingly timed. The bogus features started showing up too.
The more general allegation against Huawei is that it's backed by Chinese government money, with everything that brings with it. |
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| reply to aqk
NIMBY's |
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 GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:3
 ·Start Communicat..
| reply to jp_zer01
said by jp_zer01 :I'd sooner believe that the US is trying to muddy the waters as to protect its own telecom equipment companies. ... um, what companies would those be, exactly?
If it's not Chinese, it's European. |
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| said by Gone:said by jp_zer01 :I'd sooner believe that the US is trying to muddy the waters as to protect its own telecom equipment companies. ... um, what companies would those be, exactly? If it's not Chinese, it's European. There are a handful of US telecom manufacturers in the access space like Zhone and Calix.
Although I have no proof, I wouldn't put it past the Chinese manufacturers to put hooks for back doors right in the firmware/microcode of their chipsets.
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MNSi Internet - »www.mnsi.net |
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 shwatkinPremium
join:2007-10-02
Bowmanville, ON | reply to aqk
This is ridiculous. There are lots of Chinese companies that make components for network infrastructure companies. What would stop any one of them from designing a known flaw into one of those components. If the Chinese really wanted to spy on other countries around the world do you think they would put all their eggs in one basket as in the case of Huawei. This is just a bunch of conspiracy theorist tin-foil hat wearing people speculating on a worst case scenario and then attaching that scenario to a likely scapegoat. There is not one shred of actual factual evidence to say that Huawei is leading the charge in electronic surveillance against the US or any other country. TP-Link is also a Chinese company and I don't hear anyone demanding a boycott of their products, in fact many of us swear by them as an excellent brand for the money. Lastly, if Huawei was really so untrustworthy would the world leading electronic security firm have partnered with them? Huawei Symantec (»www.huaweisymantec.com/), anyone? If it turns out I'm wrong then I'll eat my crow but until then it just seems stupid to speculate based on what amounts to gossip and lies. |
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| reply to aqk
Let me get this straight...
We hand over full blue prints, design files, firmware and even teach China how to build/service our designs. Not like they really need to steal that or reverse engineer things any more. As for spying, everyone does that and they even spy on their allies.
The real enemy is not the Chinese, it is the "1%" i.e. people that wield power and money - wealthy people and politicians. Not only do they move all manufacturing and/or design jobs by offshoring, they even want to chase Chinese tech companies to open shop and hire people here too? |
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| reply to DSL_Ricer
said by DSL_Ricer:I've heard stories from employees of one of Huawei's competitors, and the topic of their espionage does occasionally come up.
Now, this is entirely hearsay but supposedly, for a while, wherever either Ericsson or Alcatel-Lucent would open offices, Huawei would too, within a few kilometers. This resulted in there being two Huawei branches in the same city, within a few km of each other. Furthermore, in their internal product feature roadmap, they started adding bogus features, because they noticed Huawei feature announcements to be rather interestingly timed. The bogus features started showing up too.
The more general allegation against Huawei is that it's backed by Chinese government money, with everything that brings with it.
Perhaps it is easier to co-locate with other telecom companies so that they can get experienced workers? Didn't Cisco open up shop in Ottawa to get all the Nortel/Newbridge/Mitel folks?
And having more than one "branch" per city is suspicious? Darn, Nortel buildings were everywhere in Ottawa.
Disclaimer: I don't work for any companies I mentioned above. |
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| reply to aqk
Whoa, thought this was the security forum for a second. This thread is just littered with empty reynolds wrap boxes. |
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aqk
join:2006-07-17
Elgin, QC
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Bell WiMAX
| reply to 49667909
Well, yes, of course it's a NIMBY thing.
I admit this was my first reaction, when I saw a tower was to be erected nearby.
But upon noting that a string of towers were to be erected along the US/Canada border, I started to think "WTF?"
NO ONE lives here! This is of course a bit of hyperbole; I do, as well as a few dozen other folks, most of who do not even care what a cell tower (or a cell phone) is.
There's quite a bit of tin-foil hat innuendo posted in this thread- but if someone can explain why a string of $250K (my estimate) towers that sort of go nowhere, can do a better job than a few R/DSLAMS, lemme know.
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- The Fibe 0.037 guy
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aqk
join:2006-07-17
Elgin, QC
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Bell WiMAX
| reply to Oedipus
said by Oedipus:Whoa, thought this was the security forum for a second. This thread is just littered with empty reynolds wrap boxes.
When you start to wear yours, just make sure it's Reynolds, and not Chinalco. Otherwise everything is lost.
... oops! perhaps you're already wearing a Chinalco one.  |
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| reply to aqk
This is a pretty slippery slope for Huawei. Do they ship routers out with "back doors" pre-installed? I highly doubt it because they would not risk shipping routers with a special firmware to just anyone who might be able to find their "back door" by reverse engineering.
Don't think for a second that Cisco (and others) hasn't hacked the hell out Huawei products looking for such a back door. The discovery of such a back door could be devastating to Huawei because no one would touch their products if such a hole was found.
Is it possible for Huawei to cooperate with the Chinese government? Sure but you won't find any Huawei gear installed any place where they could really make use of such special firmwares.
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I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company. |
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| It is far more stealthy/sneaky if Cisco's contract manufacturer were to slip a backdoor in their firmware than putting it in Huawei. Also if one were to switch a critical shipment of Cisco gears with fake one that come with the backdoor... It is not like China have not made fake Cisco gear and sold them before.
Why have evidence pointing back to yourself when you could redirect that to your competitor and their unsuspecting customers? |
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| reply to aqk
Should I be concerned that my tinfoil hat is Chinese-made? |
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aqk
join:2006-07-17
Elgin, QC
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Bell WiMAX
| said by travisc:Should I be concerned that my tinfoil hat is Chinese-made?
Another one!
Now I know! DSLREPORTS has been infiltrated! Just like Cisco, CSIS, and the CIA!
Sir - WAKE UP! Rip off that corrupting Chinese aluminum "shield" that you think protects you against bad thoughts, and see the truth- as it is!
Wear a Rio Tinto Alcan.. wait! No! Wear a Reynolds Tobacco product instead. There is a new dawn out there. We must seize it!
In the meantime you may find help at
»zapatopi.net/afdb/ PLEASE! I beg you- seek this help! And do not shop at the mind-controlling Walmart! (unless the price is REALLY low!)
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- The Fibe 0.037 guy
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GBerry
join:2011-06-12
Guelph, ON Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy Cable
| reply to aqk
Could be a government contract to provide cell reception along the border for customs officials. Generally, service is rather poor in those locations because you don't want your signals stretching too far into another country.
Both Bell and Rogers look to have spotty coverage in that area to begin with. |
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| reply to aqk
Carriers still use them for devices such as the USB 3g/4g cards. TMO is one of those carriers and so is Alltel any a few others.
The US Gov't would not allow them to bid on the National Emergency Network though- that's the only thing that they said they could not do. |
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