White House Considers Executive Order to Ban Huawei and ZTE in U.S.

[Brink]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is considering an executive order in the new year to declare a national emergency that would bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by China’s Huawei and ZTE, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

It would be the latest step by the Trump administration to cut Huawei Technologies Cos Ltd [HWT.UL] and ZTE Corp, two of China’s biggest network equipment companies, out of the U.S. market.

The United States says the companies work at the behest of the Chinese government and that their equipment could be used to spy on Americans.

Huawei and ZTE did not return requests for comment. Both in the past have denied that their products are used to spy.

Rural operators in the United States are among the biggest customers of Huawei and ZTE, and worry that they may also have to rip out existing Chinese-made equipment without compensation. Industry officials are divided on whether the administration could legally compel operators to do that.

The executive order, which has been under consideration for more than eight months, could be issued as early as January and would direct the Commerce Department to block U.S. companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks, sources from the telecoms industry and the administration said...

Read more: Exclusive: White House mulls new year executive order to bar Huawei, ZTE purchases | Reuters

 

[RoWin7]

Oops, my flip-phone is a ZTE. I am unpatriotic and a menace to my country

I will not comment on our Great Leader because we're not supposed to talk politics here.

 

[townsbg]

My employer recently banned their phones. They won't allow them to be synced to their servers for checking email, however, I'm not sure how they can stop that.

 

[file3456]

Sounds prudent I say. It's a start at least. I mean, how many times have you heard China associated with hack crap?

 

[file3456]

My employer recently banned their phones. They won't allow them to be synced to their servers for checking email, however, I'm not sure how they can stop that.

MAC address. The first 6? parts of a MAC address is the vendor.

 

[Nitesco]

Months back, I was sent an article by someone that warned about Huawei phones potentially being used to spy on people. I already got a Galaxy S9+ this year, so I'm not in the market for a new phone anyway, and I'm not sure I'd go for a Huawei.


As for the privacy concerns, I'm seeing conflicting reports, so I'm not sure what to think about that.

 

[RoWin7]

Sounds prudent I say. It's a start at least. I mean, how many times have you heard China associated with hack crap?

Almost all our electronics is made in China: a conundrum. And who's going to buy those people new phones?

I have a flip-phone, no internet, and I'm self-employed.

 

[RoWin7]

Months back, I was sent an article by someone that warned about Huawei phones potentially being used to spy on people. I already got a Galaxy S9+ this year, so I'm not in the market for a new phone anyway, and I'm not sure I'd go for a Huawei.


As for the privacy concerns, I'm seeing conflicting reports, so I'm not sure what to think about that.

Look for the story on one of the computing magazines. Did you ever really think that a smart-phone allows you to have privacy?

 

[Brds7t7]

Here in the UK BT/EE have stated they're removing all Huawei equipment from their 3G/4G services, and looks like they're rethinking whether to use their equipment in the upcoming 5G services.

Huawei: 'Deep concerns' over firm's role in UK 5G upgrade - BBC News

I haven't actually owned a single Huawei product. Not because of the speculation, but just because they were never really a popular brand here until the last couple of years.

 

[Barman58]

If they are looking to ban all chinese manufactured telecoms equipment from use in their market that's up to them, but it should be thought out seriously,. How about Apple products? they are built overseas, what's added to the Chips in those?

In business, companies often "Slag Off" the opposition in order to improve the sales of their own products, it's a quite effective technique, but is less so at international political level, there is likely to be a very large cost involved, and this will invariably be met by local consumers, directly or indirectly, infrastructure costs multiplying by several times will likely result in costs to the end user, who are probably paying higher than average costs in remote areas to start with.

 

[lehnerus2000]

In business, companies often "Slag Off" the opposition in order to improve the sales of their own products, it's a quite effective technique, but is less so at international political level, there is likely to be a very large cost involved, and this will invariably be met by local consumers, directly or indirectly, infrastructure costs multiplying by several times will likely result in costs to the end user, who are probably paying higher than average costs in remote areas to start with.

Politicians "create" some scandals to distract people from other inconvenient news.

The "Yes, Prime Minister" episode "Official Secrets" showed an example:

Hacker is unimpressed and Bill suggests that they distract the journalists by feeding them an alternative story. Sir Humphrey suggests the expulsion of 76 Soviet diplomats, which is standard civil service practice for killing press stories.
...
Since sacking the Energy Secretary and/or his press officer would also cause more trouble than it’s worth, they both agree that the best course of action is to expel 76 Soviet diplomats.

Official Secrets - Wikipedia
​