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Communications United States China

FCC Orders Equipment Removed in Step Aimed at Huawei, ZTE (bloomberg.com) 56

Posted by msmash from the further-crackdown dept.
The Federal Communication Commission ordered carriers to remove network equipment that poses a security risk, taking another step aimed at China's Huawei and ZTE. From a report: The agency in a 5-0 vote also said it would establish a list of proscribed equipment, and it set up a program to reimburse carriers for replacing suspect gear that will start once Congress devotes an estimated $1.6 billion. The agency said the actions, which affect providers that take federal subsidies, implement a law Congress passed in March. The FCC, Congress and President Donald Trump's administration are confronting China on a range of issues including trade and the novel coronavirus. The FCC accuses Huawei and ZTE of posing a risk of espionage, an allegation each denies. Last year the agency said subsidies can't be used to buy gear from Huawei or ZTE.
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FCC Orders Equipment Removed in Step Aimed at Huawei, ZTE More

FCC Orders Equipment Removed in Step Aimed at Huawei, ZTE

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  • Room 641A (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Thursday December 10, 2020 @01:32PM (#60816400)

    ... goes first.

  • Any proof of this? Anything in the microcode, in the CPU code? Somewhere? We're slowly moving away from "innocent till proven guilty" towards "guilty until proven innocent" .. just like the ballot issue .. republicans can't show any proof of compromise but want the election results overturned.

    • Re:Any proof? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Thursday December 10, 2020 @01:55PM (#60816530)

      This isn't a criminal case, it is just regulations and bureaucracy.

      However I agree with you that we are just blocking products from rumors vs actual facts.
      The argument goes like this.
      Huawei is a Chinese Company, China is a Communist Country, Communist Countries own the Companies... Huawei is sharing data to the Chinese Government because they are owned by them.

      China has a complex relationship with the United States. China wants to have trade with the US, as the United States has a lot of money to spend, we are also located along their shipping lanes so we are a good customer to be sold to. The United States wants to Trade with China as well, as the world most populous country, so they have a huge customer base that the US wants to sell to. Also China has cheap labor, which the US wants to buy parts for cheap than resell for more profit. While the US has a strong entrepreneurial culture, where many new business growth ideas and business processes that China can profit off of.

      Also Chinese Politics are at Odds with the United States, also they are in competition for other countries, and they have a set of partnerships with other countries, and opposing military objectives.

      What really should be worked out, does our trade advantages beat our military advantages. If Trade is more valuable, it would make sense for China and Huawei to not be spying on the US and provide as good as a product that can be provided for the cost. If it is military and political gain then the products may be faulty and unsafe.

      With all said, Technology is not Magic. We can see what traffic comes and goes out of such equipment. The microcode and other software can be decompiled into something that an human can look at and see if there is anything nefarious happening. We can prove if the product is safe or not.

      This is guilty until proven innocent, and we will not field any evidence of innocence.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by sound+vision ( 884283 )

        What would evidence of innocence be for this? I'm under the impression there are ways to implement back doors in these devices that are impossible (or nearly so) to detect in the finished product. Is it really prudent to deploy potentially compromised devices in critical infrastructure roles, when it might be years before we actually identify the vulnerabilities? The stakes in this specific area are higher, it legitimately warrants a level of concern that consumer products or meme platforms like TikTok don'

        • So you are going into conspiracy logic here. Because you don't know how such equipment works, you assume there is some magic undetectable magic that Chinese can do to hide what the product does.

          If you expect that the product could be a problem, randomly test samples of equipment, this will raise their costs, so most people may not buy them.

          While you can hide backdoor to the individual customer, it is tough to hide it from someone who is actually checking the product for one. Oh look this wired device has a

          • There's nothing magic about it - when you design the chip, it does whatever you want. You don't have to outsource a function onto a separate chip, or into software that can be audited. You don't have to send a TCP packet to China. The equipment continually sends out mountains of data to hundreds of devices. It wouldn't be hard to get a receiver with a legitimate SIM card in range, and at that point it's indistinguishable from normal traffic.
            As for conspiracy, they most definitely do conspire to commit espio

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      The only people who can spy on US citizens on US soil. is the NSA. The CIA cannot because of, you know, law. If we just let any country record and sell our phone calls, the NSA monopoly would end

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sjames ( 1099 )

      They want the ballot results overturned because their dear leader didn't win. Considering that even the rat Giuliani doesn't actually claim fraud in court when he's under oath, I don't think many of Trump's cronies actually believe the results were tainted in any way.

    • The proof is that a Chinese company controls the firmware updates.

      It was the exact same problem my company faced trying to sell security software globally. We were approached by representatives of a Chinese company responsible for various technology transfers, and they made it clear that the only way we were going to go into China was if they bought us. Otherwise, the mere fact that we controlled the keys was sufficient to exclude us from selling anywhere in China.

      If you control the firmware, you essentia

      • So the fact that your phone manufacturer controls the firmware on your phone is "proof" that they are spying on you? That's how proof logic works in our brain? hahaha

    • Same game all over again. [imgur.com]

      Except this time the dictator is orange.

    • If you have sufficient security clearance, and can demonstrate a need to know, then the NSA will provide you with a report. Otherwise the answer is "That's none of your business."

  • Step 1. Install all old nonfunctioning ZTE and Huawei equipment.
    Step 2. Get government reimbursement to remove all old nonfunctioning ZTE and Huawei equipment.
    Step 3. Profit.

  • I'll continue using my ZTE modem with the $10 gigabit internet subscription.

  • It is the law in China (Score:5, Informative)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Thursday December 10, 2020 @02:35PM (#60816708)

    https://www.theguardian.com/wo... [theguardian.com]

    China's national intelligence law states that “any organisation and citizen” shall “support and cooperate in national intelligence work”.

  • Or is it about US carriers trying to stifle competition?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 )

      Just another 5 weeks or so and it's over. We can go back to building our communication infrastructure with PLA designed hardware and stop all this interference with China.

    • You mean like when HRC was secretary of state when the US shut down Mega Upload so a competitor could get market share? Or when the FDA banned the amino acid L-Tryptophan just a few days before intense media coverage of a newly approved Prozac?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nnull ( 1148259 )
      No. Meanwhile we get to install new equipment, which are setup by bad technicians using bad passwords, with outdated firmwares, making it just as unsecure as Huawei.

    • Well duh.

      Everything in America is always about ultimately profit, literally everything else be damned.
      Even religion. And they are a theocracy too.

  • So it means that soon we'll be able to get lots of cheap/free Huawei & ZTE hardware for our home labs. Niiiice.

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