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House Intelligence Committee: Don't Use ZTE, Huawei Gear
Huawei: You're Just Afraid of Competition

The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee issued a report this week stating that companies should not do business with Chinese network equipment vendors Huawei and ZTE because potential Chinese government influence on the companies poses a security threat. Reuters notes the report comes after an eleven month investigation into the companies. Both companies have been planning significant expansion into the States, including into the smartphone market.

"We have to suspect that the only purpose of such a report is to impede competition and obstruct Chinese (telecom) companies from entering the U.S. market," Huawei said in a statement. ZTE took things one step further, issuing a sarcastic statement suggesting that the United States should ban all hardware made in China entirely if they really want to feel secure:
quote:
Given ZTE’s cooperation and the facts ZTE has presented to the Committee, ZTE is disappointed that the Committee chose to narrowly focus its review on just the two largest Chinese companies and to exclude Western telecom vendors and their Chinese joint venture partners. Given that virtually all US telecom equipment is produced in China, in some measure, the Committee’s narrow focus addresses the overall issue of risk to US telecom infrastructure so narrowly that it omits from the Committee’s inquiry the suppliers of the vast majority of equipment used in the US market. ZTE is a relatively small US telecom infrastructure equipment supplier in comparison with most of the Western vendors. Sales of ZTE’s telecom infrastructure equipment in the US comprised less than $30 million in revenue last year. Two Western vendors, alone, last year provided the US market with $14 billion worth of equipment.
The full report, which you'd have to assume will include actual proof of spying allegations, will be released later today.
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fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

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fifty nine

Member

Frightening

There's really no escape. Since we don't build anything here anymore and are designing less and less of it here, there is a real possibility of equipment being built that phones home and sends our sensitive data back home.

But I think it's just foolish to focus on just two companies.
Angrychair
join:2000-09-20
Jacksonville, FL

1 recommendation

Angrychair

Member

Re: Frightening

The humorous part is that the American government does exactly what they're accusing the Chinese government of doing - intercepting everything and allowing nothing to be private communication. I'm sure it's not a good idea for American interests to use Chinese gear that would spy on them, but for a small potato such as myself I'm not sure I see where it would matter for me.

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

2 recommendations

n2jtx

Member

Re: Frightening

said by Angrychair:

The humorous part is that the American government does exactly what they're accusing the Chinese government of doing - intercepting everything and allowing nothing to be private communication. I'm sure it's not a good idea for American interests to use Chinese gear that would spy on them, but for a small potato such as myself I'm not sure I see where it would matter for me.

But it is okay for us to do it because we are the good guys and our motives are altruistic (SARCASM).

I read all 47 or so pages (skipped the footnotes) and while it paints a pretty scary picture, I do not see anything going on that we are not doing in conjunction with our Homeland Security Department and the NSA. It isn't much different than the secret rooms set up at various telco's to feed all data directly to the U.S. government.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

1 recommendation

rradina

Member

Re: Frightening

Regardless of what you think, so far we're free to make such speculative critiques and even call our government names. Sure, there are certainly those in this country that would like to mitigate many of our constitutional freedoms but for now, we still enjoy that freedom. Contrast this with the likes of China and Iran.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

scross

Member

Re: Frightening

Kind of gives you the warm fuzzies about those folks who are always so concerned about their 2nd Amendment rights, now, doesn't it?

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine to Angrychair

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to Angrychair
said by Angrychair:

The humorous part is that the American government does exactly what they're accusing the Chinese government of doing - intercepting everything and allowing nothing to be private communication. I'm sure it's not a good idea for American interests to use Chinese gear that would spy on them, but for a small potato such as myself I'm not sure I see where it would matter for me.

I'm against both our own Gov't and foreign ones like China, Russia and Israel (yes they spy on us) spying on us. But at least our Government is elected by us... the Chinese, not so much.

Oh_No
Trogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL

1 recommendation

Oh_No

Member

Re: Frightening

said by fifty nine:

said by Angrychair:

The humorous part is that the American government does exactly what they're accusing the Chinese government of doing - intercepting everything and allowing nothing to be private communication. I'm sure it's not a good idea for American interests to use Chinese gear that would spy on them, but for a small potato such as myself I'm not sure I see where it would matter for me.

I'm against both our own Gov't and foreign ones like China, Russia and Israel (yes they spy on us) spying on us. But at least our Government is elected by us... the Chinese, not so much.

The president is not elected by us. If it was Bush would not have been president in 2001.
The electoral college elects the president.

PaulHikeS2
join:2003-03-06
Fitchburg, MA

PaulHikeS2

Member

Re: Frightening

And we vote for the electors. The system works as designed.

Oh_No
Trogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL

Oh_No

Member

Re: Frightening

said by PaulHikeS2:

And we vote for the electors. The system works as designed.

Nope. Each state is different. It is up to the state to decide how electors are appointed. Each political party chooses electors. In most states, if their parties candidate wins the states popular vote then their parties chosen electors get to place the official votes. Most states dont list the electors names on the ballots. I think only 5 states have people vote for the candidate/electoral representative.
In most states the electors only vote in line with popular vote out of tradition. Some states have enacted laws that force the electors to vote with that states popular vote.

The electoral college was a compromise from one side that wanted to have congress elect the president and the other side that wanted the people to elect the president.
One reason for the compromise that led them away from the popular votes was issues with slavery between the north and south.
Another reason was small states favored the electoral system as during those times you were a citizen of your state first and country second, so they had a hardon for states power and the felt that a popular vote would give their state less power.

The original argument for compromise (to have congress elect the president) does not exist to day, thus it makes no sense to keep the electoral compromise going.
The only side left with a valid argument in the compromise is the popular vote side. Why keep doing something when there is no reason anymore to justify it??

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

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I was told by someone at the CTIA expo that if you wanted to provide service to Federal Agencies it was suggested that you steer clear of companies that may be influenced by foreign governments such as Huawei.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
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Chubbysumo

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Re: Frightening

said by battleop:

I was told by someone at the CTIA expo that if you wanted to provide service to Federal Agencies it was suggested that you steer clear of companies that may be influenced by foreign governments such as Huawei.

This is quite literally the definition of fear mongering, and probably has its roots in AT&T and VZW. Why would they(the chinese) want to spy on a majority of the USA customers? Sure, there are a few targets of interest, but this "committee" would also have to extend this suggestion to mexican telecos and canadian telecos as well(rodgers is in the USA, as well as Tracphone/straightalk/net10 all being owned and operated out of mexico by Carlos Slim). Seriously, there is no more risk here than anywhere else, and this is just like what was done in the McCarthy days with communism. Its all just irrational fear of the unknown/don't personally likes, and they are trying to get the masses to follow the same thing. I say bullshit, since its the same risk of a producer of the equipment that US telecos use right now is mostly in china, if the chinese wanted to spy, they would already be doing it, since 99% of tech related stuff in the USA is MADE IN CHINA!!

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

1 recommendation

battleop

Member

Re: Frightening

"there are a few targets of interest,"

That's exactly it. If you have ever read about or watched some of the things the US did to the Russians during the cold war you would understand why they are cautious.

The Chinese government doesn't care about the average citizen but there is quite a reward in being able to sniff traffic that may contain data going to and from Obama's special Blackberry.

KodiacZiller
Premium Member
join:2008-09-04
73368

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KodiacZiller

Premium Member

Re: Frightening

said by battleop:

"there are a few targets of interest,"

That's exactly it. If you have ever read about or watched some of the things the US did to the Russians during the cold war you would understand why they are cautious.

The Chinese government doesn't care about the average citizen but there is quite a reward in being able to sniff traffic that may contain data going to and from Obama's special Blackberry.

Not likely. For one, Obama's blackberry is encrypted with Top Secret Type I ciphers. Second, most of our really sensitive systems are not going to be run on such commodity hardware (or even on the public Internet at all). NSA has its own chip manufacturing plant for this reason. I am not worried about really sensitive systems inside the government -- they are going to either manufacture it themselves or strictly oversee contractors who do.

This is more about the Chinese ripping off the Apple's and Microsoft's and Boeing's of the world. Corporate espionage is what they are concerned about. They also worry, of course, about public networks (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) But really, the horse is already out of the barn -- the Chinese have been ripping off American corporate secrets for decades and they haven't needed subverted hardware to do it. They even stole the Stealth fighter from us, FFS.

What's worse is there are ZERO American companies that can make LTE gear. 60 minutes ran a story about this the other day. In their report, they interviewed one guy from Kansas who wanted to expand his town's 4G LTE network. He looked at all American companies (including Cisco). He found out that NONE of them made the 4G gear so he was forced to go to Huawei. A while later he got a visit from guys in dark suits (he wouldn't identity the agency they were with). He said "they were concerned about Huawei." He was pretty ticked off about the whole matter and wouldn't talk in any detail about it.

According to the 60 minutes episode, there are only 3 companies worldwide who make all the gear needed for a 4G network -- Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Huawei. Swedish, French, Chinese.

That's really the problem. American manufacturing, while once the best in the world (especially at networking, routers, telco gear, etc.) is now at the bottom of the barrel. America invented packet switching and the Internet and now we can't even manufacture any of it. Sad. And these small towns looking to upgrade 4G are going to use Huawei over Ericsson or Alcatel because they are undoubtedly cheaper.

But the irony in all of this, as has been noted, is how the government is worried so much about backdoors. They know that they themselves are the best in the world at backdooring systems (NSA is notorious for it). So I guess it's kind of like a bank robber giving a course on bank security.

I don't doubt Huawei is spying, but it's just ironic coming from the House Intelligence Committee (who oversees NSA's spying program).

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Re: Frightening

"Not likely."

I agree it's not likely but it's not impossible. As long as there are humans and greed in the process it's always a possibility even it it's an extremely remote possibility.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

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openbox9 to Chubbysumo

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to Chubbysumo
said by Chubbysumo:

Why would they(the chinese) want to spy on a majority of the USA customers?

Really? The Chinese aren't hiding their intentions with openly going after intellectual property and various technologies that will further their strategic progress. The Chinese are saving billions of dollars and several years in R&D. The more sensors the government has for gathering this information, the better.
said by Chubbysumo:

but this "committee" would also have to extend this suggestion to mexican telecos and canadian telecos as well(rodgers is in the USA, as well as Tracphone/straightalk/net10 all being owned and operated out of mexico by Carlos Slim).

Do they manufacture the equipment?
said by Chubbysumo:

if the chinese wanted to spy, they would already be doing it, since 99% of tech related stuff in the USA is MADE IN CHINA!!

Now you're catching on Our reliance on foreign designed/manufactured technology is becoming a risk to our national security. This will lead to more expensive goods as our owners/managers of critical infrastructure begin to be required to start leveraging trusted sources for hardware/software.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
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Chubbysumo

Member

Re: Frightening

said by openbox9:

said by Chubbysumo:

Why would they(the chinese) want to spy on a majority of the USA customers?

Really? The Chinese aren't hiding their intentions with openly going after intellectual property and various technologies that will further their strategic progress. The Chinese are saving billions of dollars and several years in R&D. The more sensors the government has for gathering this information, the better.
said by Chubbysumo:

but this "committee" would also have to extend this suggestion to mexican telecos and canadian telecos as well(rodgers is in the USA, as well as Tracphone/straightalk/net10 all being owned and operated out of mexico by Carlos Slim).

Do they manufacture the equipment?
said by Chubbysumo:

if the chinese wanted to spy, they would already be doing it, since 99% of tech related stuff in the USA is MADE IN CHINA!!

Now you're catching on Our reliance on foreign designed/manufactured technology is becoming a risk to our national security. This will lead to more expensive goods as our owners/managers of critical infrastructure begin to be required to start leveraging trusted sources for hardware/software.

Again, its 99% hype and maybe 1% truth. I would more worry about questionable smaller makers rather than larger ones, since the larger ones have to withstand more scrutiny, but, since most of the stuff we use here is made overseas, this report is nothing but fearmongering. I wonder what other company is trying to crush their competition?
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Frightening

said by Chubbysumo:

Again, its 99% hype and maybe 1% truth.

I'm guessing it's more than 1% truth.
said by Chubbysumo:

I would more worry about questionable smaller makers rather than larger ones

I'm sure the IC is worried about all of them.
said by Chubbysumo:

but, since most of the stuff we use here is made overseas, this report is nothing but fearmongering.

Or the beginning of a wake up call.
MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-17

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So maybe the government says to Cisco, Juniper, HP, etc.... that they WILL manufacture at home in giant shared factories - in order to on-shore manufacturing and reap some economies of scale.

But then those companies will say...."The US market is tiny compared to the rest of the world market, and we can still manufacture cheaper in China so that's where we're going to make our stuff for ALL markets."
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Frightening

Trusted foundries exist and they don't necessarily need to be in the US. The access to them needs to be broadened to allow access by our critical infrastructure partners (i.e., some of the manufacturers that you mentioned). Yes, it costs money.
scross
join:2002-09-13
USA

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scross

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I might characterize this as "Better than nothing, but a day late and a dollar short!" The Chinese have long maintained an active but low-key cyber-warfare program against the US (along with an active but low-key spying program utilizing Chinese nationals within US borders), where if nothing else they are conducting industrial espionage - or at least attempting to. This was one of the main topics at an FBI meeting I attended a few months back, where they made it clear that they are finally starting to take this stuff very seriously. I haven't read this report yet, but I'm curious as to what details it gives.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

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said by fifty nine:

There's really no escape. Since we don't build anything here anymore

If we did people would bitch about high prices. People want these factory jobs back in America at the old $25-$30 an hour wages with full pension and fully paid health care for life, but still want these goods at "made in China" prices. Not realistic.

No one will work for $8-$10 an hour for maybe a 6% match in a 401k( meaning the worker actually has to contribute to his own retirement god forbid ) and a health care plan that requires the worker to pay some of that cost and ends when he retires.

And even in that scenario costs of goods would go up.

nonamesleft
join:2011-11-07
Manitowoc, WI

nonamesleft

Member

Re: Frightening

said by 88615298:

said by fifty nine:

There's really no escape. Since we don't build anything here anymore

If we did people would bitch about high prices. People want these factory jobs back in America at the old $25-$30 an hour wages with full pension and fully paid health care for life, but still want these goods at "made in China" prices. Not realistic.

No one will work for $8-$10 an hour for maybe a 6% match in a 401k( meaning the worker actually has to contribute to his own retirement god forbid ) and a health care plan that requires the worker to pay some of that cost and ends when he retires.

And even in that scenario costs of goods would go up.

That really is a bunch of crap, I have seen chinese products cost a lot more then made in usa products. Ever look how much a lamp made in china costs...Yeah its a lot! I bought a sealed 12 volt battery that was made in china 90 bucks! I was at fleetfarm last week, battery that almost has nearly the same specs just about 55 bucks! So china is really getting greedy!
Gami00
join:2010-03-11
Mississauga, ON

Gami00

Member

Re: Frightening

that's not china being greedy, that's would be your standard american business.

why lower prices when you can save money getting "made in china" then selling it at normal to high prices.

it's win/win for the business selling to the population.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina to nonamesleft

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to nonamesleft
The greed isn't all in China. When there's that kind of price disparity, it's probably at many layers between the Chinese slave and the ultimate consumer. For that reason, I believe there's a bit of truth to what both of you say (BF69 and you).

Would costs be different? Probably, but that depends on how much of these costs require labor. A lot of products can be manufactured by mechanized processes that don't need a lot of labor. Sure the labor that is needed would cost more here but the increase in those costs might be offset by time-to-market and paying to put it on a huge container ship.

Of course a factory here would have to follow a lot of EPA/OSHA rules and there's cost to that but that's where ultimate greed is revealed. While I'm sure there are probably some EPA rules that are too strict (or not strict enough), we have to manufacture stuff in a reasonably safe manner. It's just the right thing to do. However, since not everyone picks up after their own dog...I have my doubts.
Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL

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health care should not be part of the job. Now that can save costs as the factory will not need pay for health care.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
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Chubbysumo

Member

Re: Frightening

said by Joe12345678:

health care should not be part of the job. Now that can save costs as the factory will not need pay for health care.

Health care should be part of every job, just not fully funded by the company. Health care plans are an investment in your employees, knowing that 99% will likely never use it, and those that will, will use it to keep themselves healthy, which means they can work longer and more for you. What really needs to be investigated is the gross overcharging for health care that goes on in the USA. I looked at an itemized list from when I had surgery, and they(the place that did it) charged me $19 for a band-aid. that is why health care is so damn expensive. I could buy 3 boxes of the best on the market bandaids, yet I was charged $19 for a single one, please tell me you think that is just as outrageous as I do.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

1 recommendation

jseymour

Member

Re: Frightening

said by Chubbysumo:

Health care plans are an investment in your employees, knowing that 99% will likely never use it, and those that will, will use it to keep themselves healthy, ...

Hahahahahahaha! In the country that invented the obesity epidemic, you claim the people will use their health care plans to "keep themselves healthy?" Hahahahaha!

Most people don't need either an expensive health care plan or expensive (western) medical "care" to "keep themselves healthy." They just need a balanced, nutritious diet and to get a bit of regular exercise. No health care plan in the world, "free" or not, can compensate for failing to do those things.

Jim

sdsd8
@sbcglobal.net

sdsd8

Anon

Re: Frightening

and most those healthcare plans don't even pay for nutrition counseling or mental counseling like psychotherapy. Most common factors that contribute to obesity: bad food, bad eating habits (i.e. long intervals, starving) lack of nutritious choices like fruites, veggies, even stress. Some people have underlying mental conditions (like depression) but they don't even know it but it influences their lifetime choices.

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

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said by 88615298:

said by fifty nine:

There's really no escape. Since we don't build anything here anymore

If we did people would bitch about high prices. People want these factory jobs back in America at the old $25-$30 an hour wages with full pension and fully paid health care for life, but still want these goods at "made in China" prices. Not realistic.

No one will work for $8-$10 an hour for maybe a 6% match in a 401k( meaning the worker actually has to contribute to his own retirement god forbid ) and a health care plan that requires the worker to pay some of that cost and ends when he retires.

And even in that scenario costs of goods would go up.

Bullshit. If CxOs can making millions and billions we can damn well pay workers a decent wage.

Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and others make cars here. The workers are paid reasonably well and the cars are of good quality. Why can't we do that with electronics?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

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said by fifty nine:

There's really no escape. Since we don't build anything here anymore and are designing less and less of it here, there is a real possibility of equipment being built that phones home and sends our sensitive data back home.

But I think it's just foolish to focus on just two companies.

The real risk to be worried about isn't phoning home. It is that, in a time of war, a signal could be sent that would cause the Chinese built hardware to self destruct, thereby turning off a huge part of US communications infrastructure.

•••••

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

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said by fifty nine:

There's really no escape. Since we don't build anything here anymore ...

Bottom line, right there.

Until and unless the U.S. consumer (that incl. the government) is willing to pay the price of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., we will be at the mercy of the governments of every one of these cheap labour countries.

Period.

Americans want to eat their cake and have it, too, as we did for decades. Those days are gone. We exported our technology and labour, and now the countries to which we did that a coming into their own. Now they're going to use what we so cavalierly gave away, and there's every reason to expect they'll use that to their advantage--just as we would were we in their position.

Jim
buckweet1980
join:2011-12-31
Saint Petersburg, FL

buckweet1980

Member

China owns us

We come out against some of their companies, yet where is the outrage about how China owns the US.. We are so in debt to them right now.

Buy our debt please, but let it be known we want nothing to do with your countries companies.

Also don't these people realize that most electronics are made in Asia right now? Most software for the telecom companies are too!

••••

AnonFTW
@rr.com

AnonFTW

Anon

FUD

This is pure FUD aimed at protecting American business interests. If the Chinese companies were really planting backdoors into their hardware, how difficult do you think it would be to detect? The new Apple A6 was torn down, completely dissected, and mapped out in a matter of days by hobby sites using decades old technology. It would be trivial for the government to determine if this was taking place.

•••••••••••

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron

Premium Member

Security logistics

I'm no security expert, but it seems to me that there's a bit of hype here.

Even with the rudimentary network knowlege that I do possess, I have to ask the following: Would a network operator (eg: Bell, VZW, AT&T) not know that information was being reported back to China? Network operators are usually pretty good at identifying traffic patterns in order manage their networks so why would this be any different?

••••••
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Afraid of competition?

I guess that depends on how we define competition. How much does each country subsidize their respective manufacturers? If there's a significant disparity, it's hard to call that competitive.

I'm not taking sides because the US does a lot of corporate welfare in the form of deductions that are designed to encourage certain behavior. If there's any truth to the presidential campaign rhetoric, some even believe the US subsidizes our manufacturers to outsource American jobs. I have no idea if that's true. I'm just throwing it out there because there's a widely-held belief that the Chinese government subsidizes their industry but the US isn't a completely free market either.
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

1 edit

Sammer

Member

Re: Afraid of competition?

said by rradina:

I'm not taking sides because the US does a lot of corporate welfare in the form of deductions that are designed to encourage certain behavior.

The so called "green energy" industry (including Obama campaign contributors) now receives tens of $Billions in subsidies while the traditional fossil fuel industry now receives less than $5 Billion and regardless of where the money goes much of it is borrowed money. Some corporations such as GE don't seem to pay any federal income tax and don't think there aren't government contracts awarded as political payoffs (by incumbents of both parties) rather than strictly on merit. Then there is the whole matter of the regulated effectively writing the regulations (often to the detriment of the American public) and that's a huge one for the U.S. telecommunications industry.

Whether or not Huawei became a telecommunications giant legitimately or through infringing intellectual property and help from the Chinese government is a fair trade and antitrust concern. Too bad our (no longer for the people) government has very little high moral ground left to stand on.
modifiy
join:2001-04-13
Minneapolis, MN

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modifiy

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Anyone see 60 mins on this?

I watched that one Sunday and thought they were missing a few main points. The only company in the US that makes this gear is Cisco, which doesn't have all the tech it needs to do a full implementation like Huawei apparently. The other problem is all their equipment is manufactured in China (like everyone else).

I still find it odd with the Gov stepping in and saying "don't use them because they could spy on us" while they are doing that same thing right now. Maybe Huawei's equipment doesn't have backdoors like the other vendors do for the US to spy on it citizens. Wouldn't that be funny?

KodiacZiller
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join:2008-09-04
73368

KodiacZiller

Premium Member

Re: Anyone see 60 mins on this?

said by modifiy:

I still find it odd with the Gov stepping in and saying "don't use them because they could spy on us" while they are doing that same thing right now. Maybe Huawei's equipment doesn't have backdoors like the other vendors do for the US to spy on it citizens. Wouldn't that be funny?

----- Begin Tin-foil Hat Transmission -----

What if the government was so against Huawei because they know that they are *not* putting NSA approved backdoors in their systems (like everyone else does)? What if this is all about their concern over their own spying operations going dark wherever Huawei systems are deployed?

----- End Tin-foil Hat Transmission -----

skyward
@ericy.com

skyward to modifiy

Anon

to modifiy
The true is the Gov don't really need backdoor to any equipment to spy on it citizens. Most that information can be bought by the Gov from a number of company or they can just tap the line. Don't even need a backdoor.

The problem is not it is manufactured in China. It is design in China. It is a lot harder to find any backdoor if it is design into it. Who knows. It may not be a backdoor but a kill switch.

dnoyeB
Ferrous Phallus
join:2000-10-09
Southfield, MI

dnoyeB

Member

Irony?

Does anyone else see the irony in the US government trying to influence US companies not to use products from these Chinese companies under the premise that said companies would be influenced by the Chinese government?

skyward
@ericy.com

skyward

Anon

Re: Irony?

No really irony.. Just good US government policy. Don't buy from someone you don't trust. Same reason we don't buy tanks from Russians. We are talk about a wireless infrastructure and not a McDonald happy meal toy here.

Chinaaaa
@rr.com

Chinaaaa

Anon

USA

Do it our way or no money for you!
rdmiller
join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA

rdmiller

Member

Consider the source

The House Intelligence Committee is made up of some of the greatest minds in the Universe.
pearcy
join:2004-12-08
Chicago, IL

pearcy

Member

Not the first Allegation against Huawei

»business.financialpost.c ··· -pieces/

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milkman82
join:2006-06-19
Cleveland, OH

1 recommendation

milkman82

Member

I am actualy on board with the intelligence committee

China has had a long history of spying on US companies. Is everyone that forgetful not too long ago when an employee with worked for Motorola was Chinese and the FBI actually busted her before she made it to the plane. She had the thumb drives for the secrets for iDEN that Motorola had been working on. She stated that she was working on behalf of the Chinese military to steal communication secrets. That was just one case of many.

I find it crazy that people on here are saying this is due to competition. It's honestly just creepy the fact they are here!

TelcoHead
@acterna.com

TelcoHead

Anon

Re: I am actualy on board with the intelligence committee

+1
Both Huawei and ZTE are companies with murky pasts and have been linked to the Chinese military numerous times. Unlike most of their competitors - Erricsson, Cisco, NSN, Alcatel Lucent these two are not publicly held and do not divulge much information on their financials.

Industrial espoinage is the modus operandi of many Chinese companies - steal IP and save all the R&D expenses, giving them a huge cost advantage and the ultimate demise of their competitors.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

comparison

huawei android 3g smartphone at metro pcs $39 (lowest promo sale price)

lowest promo price for iphone 4(s) $149

part of the bias is a recent anti-china spike.. but it's not rationally based..

any sensitive IT equipment should have the vender and the equipment fully vetted no matter who the mfg. is.

do you really want bad equipment that does target trajectories subject to problems?

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

I call bullsh*t

Too many devices and commodities are "Made in China".

As for the whole conspiracy theory, other countries could say the same for Cisco and Juniper. Since they are designed and developed in the U.S., the NSA could have their paws in it and have a backdoor to kill off communications for a single country. The same could be told about Microsoft, Adobe, or any U.S. software/hardware developer and producer. How easy would it be to install a snippet of software within the Windows OS and screen all data? Not that hard. It's even easier if the software was part of the core Windows OS.

Honestly, have an American representative sign an NDA, view the designs and schematics, and give or deny the OK needed for chinese companies to sell their products here. That way, there is some oversight instead of overall paranoia. Heck, Huawei and ZTE both sell Android smartphones.. and are capable of being flashed with a third-party firmware. I'd be more paranoid about Motorola with a locked bootloader and unable to install third-party firmware (ex. Cyanogenmod). At least I have control over my device.

Paranoia goes in all directions and so does trust. So far, neither companies have made reasons for us not to trust them.