Huawei - how much of a risk?

I believe anyone would need access to the security reports that are in front of the government to really make any judgment on this matter. There is I feel a large amount of political pressure placed on governments by the United States simply to protect Apple and other US-based technology companies from Huawei.

However, Huawai undoubtedly manufacture some great Smartphones, as I have a Google Pixel three for work purposes and a Huawai P20 pro for personal use. However, both being what is known as "flagship phones" the Huawai P20 is the far better of the two and came at half the price.

Honestly I don’t know but I think you gave to let the experts decide not politicians or civil servants.

Here we are floundering between two conflicting technological giants, both of whom have ingress to our communications systems. I have no trust in any of today’s great powers.

I’d much prefer to be aligned to Europe than either the USA or China for trade etc. even though they too have problems, not the least of which is the mess of Brexit.

World politics is in turmoil between right and left, IMO. Whilst this continues our planet is heating rapidly and our grandchildren may have little future.

Links and gaffe. The new software isn't good.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

I think it's very risky. Do not imagine that Huawei is independent in any way from the Chinese state.

Few seem to think that it's a good idea, but the government are going to do it anyway! Which seems to be the way they operate. I wonder why???

Theory has it that 5G can offer 1000 x times the speed of 4G. In essence, with good coverage, you can stream 4 K videos on your phone, or have a bandwidth of 100 Gb per second. BUT.........

5G will massively increase exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation on top of the 2G, 3G and 4G networks for telecommunications already in place. RF radiation has been proven harmful for humans and the environment. The deployment of 5G constitutes an experiment on humanity and the environment that is defined as a crime under international law.
Personally, I don't need 5G and consider our health and environment of much more importance.

There was an "investigative program" on Huawei a few weeks ago I think it was on BBC1, very interesting watch.

So who would I prefer to have the ability to spy on the UK the USA under Trump or China? Talk about between the devil and the deep blue sea! H-e-l-p!!!!

This government is the worse we have had in my lifetime! What the hell goes through their minds, if they indeed have minds. They seem to pick the worst case scenarios and then sit back and let us pick up the pieces. I can see only massive trouble with Huawei and the 5G network! We are leaving ourselves open as usual to all to come along and hack away. Huawei will not be independent from China and we will end up in serious trouble. That is what I think.

I read that BT is already invested heavily in Huawei technology/infrastructure which makes us different to the USA and elsewhere.

The US is largely protecting their native suppliers like Cisco by keeping Huawei out - this is driven more by commercial rather than security concerns. We barely have any such home-grown tech suppliers in this regard, but we need to balance our 'special relationship' with the US especially post Brexit (there I said the B word) and the need to keep the Chinese (market) on our side. Agree that we need to be mindful when relying on outside suppliers, but weren't we just about to sign a deal with China to supply a nuclear power station? In short I reckon that Climate change is higher up the risk register than who supplies our 5G infrastructure.

Well, today is voting day and if you disagree with the Government you have a chance to show your disapproval even though these are only the Council elections.
A massive drop in the number of Tory seats will make them look at their policies and decisions more closely afterwards.
As I am not too keen on Jeremy either I will be voting for an independent candidate.

Agree with Geoft. We seem to be willing to let the Chinese run a nuclear power station, which could be turned into a crude bomb. Why should we worry more about the Chinese spying on non critical parts of our networks than the Americans doing the same thing, and making a profit. If Huawei can provide good equipment at an attractive price, let’s go for it.

I think many people commenting don’t really understand our mobile core networks and understandably so. I’ve worked in this area and have three comments. Huawei are well known for stealing the IPR of phone companies and infrastructure manufactures and designers (Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and the like) all backed by Chinese money, it is part owned by the Chinese Government, hence being able to manufacture more cheaply. Secondly, the security issues are well known in the industry and are relevant. They have been putting relays into networks for a long time, allowing them to infiltrate our calls, thirdly, the mobile phones business is not in dispute here and Apple do not make the networks we are talking about. Most of the suppliers are from Europe or China or S Korea or Japan. I wouldn’t trust them as far as I could thrown them, nor would anyone else in the industry. Theresa May has totally lost it, she has been influenced by former cabinet ministers, now executive directors of Huawei and put them before the interests of this country. Shame on her.

Unfortunately Annaraml most “independent” candidates are just closet Tories who don’t even have explicit policies.

Having worked in IT for many years I don’t have much sympathy for US companies and their so called IPR. Big US companies have repeatedly abused IPR by using it to bully and steal from small developers. People who actually invent stuff rarely benefit substantially. Government procurement should put pressure on suppliers to open source far more material.

It is an allegation, not an establishment fact, that Huawei is part owned by the Chinese government. It is hotly denied by Huawei. This is described by the not necessarily independent NY Times www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/technology/who-owns-huawei.html

I think it is clear that in China the State is in charge of even the private companies.
I thought this was unbelievably stupid of our Govt. and I was glad that it was leaked.
This has to be stopped.
No other country will trust us again.

If anyone like Trisher thinks that there is little difference between China and the USA then remember China and lack of human rights. However messed up you might think the West is China has total state control and a very censored internet where I probably would not even be able to say this.
I think being spied on by China is far worse and so will all the other countries who will stop sharing intel with us.

I found this news report in todays Guardian:

"Besides the pervasive surveillance, human rights groups estimate about one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims are being held in political re-education camps, where they are taught communist propaganda and forced to renounce their religion. China calls the camps voluntary “training centres” and has likened them to boarding schools, but survivors speak of brainwashing, torture and abuse inside the facilities".

and "The app targets 36 “person types” to whom officials must pay special attention. The categories include seemingly harmless behaviours such as “does not socialise with neighbours, seldom uses front door”; “suddenly returned to hometown after being away for a long time”; “collected money or materials for mosques with enthusiasm”; and “household uses an abnormal amount of electricity.”

Doesn't sound like a country we should be doing deals on 5G with. Once they have an in we won't be able to block them.

pinkquartz if you think the US and the CIA with their policies of rendition, imprisonment and interference in many issues when it suits, aren't just as scarey as the regime in China which may be abslutely abhorrent but which hasn't had the time to develop the same systems and networks you are fooling yourself. Both of them have vested interests at heart and certainly one is absolutely autocratic with its own citizens but the other has been interfering in other countries for years and has developed its abilities.

maxdecatt 10.18
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