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The U.S. government is letting American businesses work with Chinese tech giant Huawei for an additional three months, in a third delay to a ban enacted in May for national security reasons.
It is the third time the U.S. has extended a reprieve, which is meant to help ease disruption for Huawei customers. Many Internet and cellphone carriers in rural parts of the U.S. buy networking equipment from Huawei, and the temporary extension means they can keep their networks up to date.
"The Temporary General License extension will allow carriers to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a statement.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The TGL order, first posted in May of this year, had already been extended once back in August and, had it not been re-issued, would have expired at the end of the day on Monday.
According to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the stay was necessary because a number of small, regional telcos still rely on Huawei kit for their day-to day-operations, making it necessary for some suppliers to continue to work with the Chinese company.
"The Temporary General License extension will allow carriers to continue to service customers in some of the most remote areas of the United States who would otherwise be left in the dark," Ross declared.
"The Department will continue to rigorously monitor sensitive technology exports to ensure that our innovations are not harnessed by those who would threaten our national security."
The new order will allow companies operating under the TGL to keep working with Huawei through February 16, 2020, or until the US and China can strike a trade deal to get the telecoms giant back in Uncle Sam's good graces.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday November 19 2019, @09:39PM (23 children)
"Dangerous" in this case means, not providing a foreign government easy access to your bank account and / or government records/facilities. While, it's definitely too murky to tell, if Huawei is complicit, actively sabotaging, or otherwise. There is little doubt as to China's general attitude with regards to stealing from their neighbors ("Don't get caught."). Also, the title trying to pit the USA as the giant bad guy against Hauwei the supposed little guy, is a bit of a stretch. Huawei is a quite massive enterprise and are quite likely in the pocket of the Chinese government. China disappears its' own citizens, you can guarantee, that the people running Huawei, don't want to be disappeared.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @10:14PM (14 children)
Ah, the good ol' day in which an entire world outside US used routers backdoored by the US govt.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 19 2019, @10:34PM (13 children)
That assumes, the US govt. has been strong arming all of the US tech companies in perpetuity. This is less likely, due to the fact that we live in a much more free country, than China. Sure, with the implementation of the "Patriot" Act, there's a lot more to question, but so far we're not disappearing actors/actresses who "owe back taxes".
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @10:55PM (2 children)
Comma, inflation, I suppose. But let it aside.
LOL. Only the masters are different.
A good choice of a nickname, btw, denotes laudable aspirations.
Now, look, as someone who lives in a country different from US, extraordinary rendition sounds potentially a bit more unpleasant than jailing one of your own citizens [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:26PM
Then Don't tread on me, motherfucker! [fourfingerdiscount.com.au]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:47PM
The difference is that Al Capone went through a very public trial and wasn't disappeared.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:00PM (2 children)
NSA strong arming tech companies? That has been proven unequivocally [wikipedia.org], in more than one instance [wikipedia.org], even if the companies involved were not directly complicit [schneier.com]. Proven far more thoroughly than these allegations against Huawei.
Just sayin'.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:03PM
The problem US govt has with Huawei equipment may be the TLAs can't actually backdoor it without notice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:45PM
AT&T, is an ISP, not a router manufacturer. Huawei is a Hardware company, like Intel, etc.
Service Company:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT&T [wikipedia.org]
Hardware Company:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei [wikipedia.org]
You proved my point that it's much easier to bring to light improper actions in the USA than China. The Patriot Act is definitely being abused and should never have seen the light of day. Good luck, getting anywhere near transparency from the current Chinese Government.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Wednesday November 20 2019, @12:20AM (4 children)
You don't think Snowden would have'disappeared'?
He might have gotten a kangaroo 'trial' of some sorts if he'd been extradited, but if the US ever finds where he lives in Russia, you can bet he'd just disappear and when anyone complained, they'd just say "The Russians did it".
Or he'd end up in Guantanamo.
He knew this, which is why he disappeared on his own.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:52AM (3 children)
No way. It's way too risky to do that.
Especially since they've disappeared *so many already* [pbs.org], including Chelsea Manning, Daniel Ellsberg, Samuel Morison, Lawrence Franklin, Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou, James Hitselberger and Reality Winner.
All of those leakers/whisltleblowers are just *gone*! Each and every one is either in a secret prison or their destroyed remains buried near one.
But wait. Except they're not. They all were tried in Article III [wikipedia.org] courts, except Manning who was tried in a military court [wikipedia.org] under the UCMJ [wikipedia.org], as she was an active duty member of the military.
So you're just making paranoid shit up. We call stuff like that "conspiracy theories."
Yes, if Snowden were to come back to the US he would be tried and almost certainly convicted of espionage and a variety of other charges [washingtonpost.com]. Because whether we approve of his disclosures (I know I appreciate it a lot), he committed acts which are illegal under the US Code [govinfo.gov], would be tried in a US court and, if convicted, sent to a Federal prison [wikipedia.org] to serve his sentence..
But he wouldn't be "disappeared" or spirited off to a foreign prison or Gitmo [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday November 21 2019, @01:31AM (1 child)
Even Snowden realizes his court case would be a joke, a kangaroo court case, which is why he got out of the US like he did.
He gave up everything to do what he knew was right (when hired, he had to vow to uphold the constitution) and put himself into exile because he KNEW he would NOT get a fair trial.
And you don't think that if the NSA ever found where he was living in Russia that hey wouldn't just kill him or Gitmo him?
You live in a dreamland then. 'They' got to Epstein, easily, and got away with it.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 22 2019, @04:14PM
Here's the thing, even though what he did may have benefited the people of the United States of America. He also, broke the law to do it. Now, if he got a trial by a jury of his peers, that might swing in his favor, but it could just as easily not have. Russia isn't so bad a place to live, especially when you compare it to prison.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Pav on Thursday November 21 2019, @10:05PM
The fact that we even have Wikileaks shows how the western world is moving in an undemocratic direction. Ways of secretly communicating only become essential as democracy closes down, which people who have experience under dictatorships know all too well. Even Australian has "rhyming slang", which is a cultural fossil from an undemocratic time in its history. Rhyming slang started as a way to easily remember code words to keep conversations private during the time the country was a penal colony.
The persecution of whistleblowers disempowers voters from making informed decisions at the ballot box and makes our societies less democratic and more authoritarian. Turing the media into an intelligence agency propaganda arm (which has been done) does the same. BTW, legistlation was passed to make it legal for intelligence agencies to use propaganda on US citizens. Cheering this stuff on just means you don't realise what it will mean for you to become voiceless - even if you think you're a shark you'll be mugged by bigger sharks, and noone will know.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Friday November 22 2019, @02:20AM (1 child)
So.. on one hand we have China that will make their citizens disappear or anyone that they don't like in transit through their region - but don't bother with the dog and pony show to make the person a villain to the masses.
On the other hand we have the US that will extradite folks and make their "freedom" disappear on trumped up charges - and have a lot of reach to do so across the world. They probably still have torture camps but of course really good at marketing and spin.
I dunno, I think if I need to pick a lesser evil, it is pretty obvious.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 22 2019, @04:08PM
Don't forget the "reeducation" camps that China has for those they don't agree with.
Also, here's a nice sentiment for you:
https://world.wng.org/2018/03/china_s_reeducation_camps [wng.org]
Let's see here, take my chances with a country like the USA where they at least espouse freedoms or take my chances with a country that treats people like mentioned above. Yeah, you're insane, if you choose China.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday November 19 2019, @10:49PM (7 children)
Yes, and of course you have proof that Huawei is delivering such data and in the pocket of the Chinese government. Proof that all sorts of security companies and consultants are digging for because the one that could prove it would suddenly become extremely valuable to the prestige of the proving academic or business doing so. Proof that the NSA would leak to such an entity if they had it. I guarantee you it is not "too murky" for them, and they would have a vested interest in letting such facts come to light if they had them to give.
Oh, wait, all we have is the assurance of the Trump administration that this is going on. Yep, there is sure a believable source. "Trust us, although we offer no proof."
Maybe all those small regional telcos see through the government's bullshit and aren't extremely worried about quitting Huawei? Just speculating.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 19 2019, @11:33PM (2 children)
From a somewhat different perspective:
https://www.wired.com/story/huawei-threat-isnt-backdoors-its-bugs/ [wired.com]
Actual concern or just more empty words?
(Same source as above)
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:41PM
Balderdash. (A word I get to seldom use). Back door, front door, side door, sunroof... Any such method would need a connection back to Huawei or allow the device to be compromised through the front door. Any such method would be detectable at some level by putting sniffers on other side of the suspect device and waiting for it to either start spewing excessive traffic outbound to places other than the destinations being requested on the inside and/or allow further intrusiveness inbound not asked for. There are entities which do such steps as a matter of their security procedures.
As to bugs and exploitable layers. Yeah. Any device, anywhere, anytime. Huawei hasn't been proven to be especially vulnerable by anybody that I am aware of.
Again, proof that the devices are compromised or easily compromisable, or it's just hot air put out by a government very desperate to not allow the tech deficit to narrow any further. As it inevitably will.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 20 2019, @08:42PM
Should have said a connection to Huawei or some other unnamed entity (which would be the same as any other penetration attempt).
This sig for rent.
(Score: 4, Touché) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 20 2019, @12:00AM
It looks like nobody really believes the US government on this, even the 5 eyes countries.
The UK has deferred a decision on whether Huawei will get any of the 5G contract until after the election, but that will be so they don't have the embarrassment of the president of their closest ally throwing a wobbly just before their election.
The Germans meanwhile have announced their 5G setup "will not exclude" Huawei.
The 5 Eyes country I live in is going to use Huawei for at least some of the 5G stuff out Telecoms companies are putting together.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Wednesday November 20 2019, @04:33AM (2 children)
It's rather obvious to me that Huawei does not do anything bad to our data simply because they would be stupid to do so and they are obviously not. They are way better for my American privacy given that the US backdoored everything in sight since at least the WWII.
The issue here is different. China is doing to the US exactly what the US have done to England around the independence. China is likely to succeed. The US leaders know it - everybody knows it. Left alone China will rule the world in a decade or two and will do so for a millennia or two.
The questions are very straight forward. Are we cool, with it? If not, what can we do?
I am an old guy and the only thing I care about is my social security and medicare for the next 20 or 30 years. Given that, kicking the can down the road - slowing China as much as possible but not going into the real hot war - is the best for me. Therefore I vote Trump.
Now, if youngsters want to try themselves at fighting, they could, I guess. In this case get yourself some "progressive" liberal Roosevelt type.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @09:31AM
Congratulations on wrecking the western world then.
By failing at stomping on China all Trump does is make China more determined to stomp back, in its own way. Thank God we at least have the impotent EU, otherwise there would be no one to actually influence the world anymore. All talk, but no trousers and yes-man. That's Trump.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 20 2019, @09:00PM
True, tides are turning. As they always have and always will.
What we can do, and are doing, is lying through our teeth about our motivations. Such actions never end well. Well, they never end, and that's the problem. We will reap what is sown. And our standing may also depend upon the support of the rest of the world. That will depend on both our honesty and being wiling to lay out the course that is ahead and requiring our allies to take a stand to stand together. Allies that Trump is remarkably good at pissing off.
I'd also differ that voting for Trump will keep us out of a hot war. Trump has proven to be so manipulable that all it is going to take is a faction that does want war and can manipulate him into delivering it for the Good of the Nation. Someone who will overcome his aversion to body bags, probably by killing Americans abroad and thus require a response in defending them that turns into a hot shooting match. But whatever method is selected it just depends on someone who can flatter Trump believably and play him like a harp as has been demonstrated already.
All of that aside there is no turning back from globalization at this point. The "America First!" mandate destabilizes that, and again there are no happy endings from isolationism. Diplomacy begins with recognizing where mutual benefit will bring about growth and not unilateral declarations of the way things shall be. Witness the trade war for that, which is already a failure no matter what concessions we might manage to get. (Which is still nothing so far [reuters.com] despite his "Phase One" announcement.)
All in all that leads me to hoping that America will wake up and elect a President who actually knows something about foreign policy.
Yes, I would like to be able to retire as well, eventually, though I have no faith or confidence that will occur. And delaying actions are fine - a lot of management is in maintaining things (as opposed to winning things), again a lesson Trump does not understand. But for such actions to be successful the truth is a much more powerful weapon. And we have a President that cannot do that.
Meh, I hope you are right and I am wrong.
This sig for rent.