Chinese Networking Vendor Huawei's Murky Ownership 170
A month ago we mentioned India's suspicions that telecomm equipment from China might contain backdoors. There hasn't been any smoking gun on such speculation. Now reader littlekorea sends in some background on the ties one important Chinese telecomm vender might or might not have to the government there. "Conspiracy theories abound as to whether networking kit vendor Huawei is owned or controlled by the Chinese government and/or the military-industrial complex. But who really owns Huawei? Kiwi journalist Juha Saarinen headed to Shanghai to find out."
Don't worry, it wouldn't work anyway (Score:5, Informative)
When T-Mobile released the "T-Mobile Tap" -- manufactured by Huawei -- I bought it the first week. It was cheap, had a huge screen, and counted as a "dumbphone" so it wasn't subject to the smartphone data plan upcharge.
I've regretted that purchase every single day since.
I posted a litany of woes over on the HoFo forum [howardforums.com]. I have never had a phone that provided me with such daily reminders of why I don't buy new products.
The interface is clunky and inconsistent -- it's clear that one dev team built the dialer, another dev team built the text message system, and another one built the contacts. All of those reference things like typing and phone number entry, but they all do it in different ways! And, they all suck. In fact, none of the functions play well together. All of the built-in apps can be dragged onto the "desktop", but most of them go away every time you power-cycle.
And the hardware is cheap. Every time a sound plays (like a ringtone) on the external speaker, there's an audible "pop" as the speaker gets power and another "pop" when the sound completes and the speaker powers down. And the processor often bogs down during complex tasks, such as entering a phone number. :P Of course, it's a sub-$200 touchscreen, so I didn't expect top-notch hardware -- if that's all that sucked, I'd be happy.
The worst part is just cropping up now, though. Random software issues are killing the digitizer. I'm quite certain it's not hardware, because it typically happens after running a Java app (such as the built-in Google Maps, or the Opera Mini I downloaded but can barely use because the phone only gives it a data connection half the time). Also, strange behavior occurs when the digitizer is wonky, like when the text message notification bar goes away or the options at the bottom of the screen disappear and leave the background visible.
Maybe it's not just bad software... maybe these are indications that the Chinese government is monitoring my calls and text messages. Maybe I got on their bad side by using Google Voice? If that's the case, they're getting a whole lot of messages like "I'll have to call you back, my phone is crapping out again".
I learned one lesson, at least. If the manufacturer isn't willing to put their name on it, don't buy it! T-Mobile should follow that advice, instead of tarnishing their name by associating it with this piece of crap Tap.
Chinese Military Strategy (Score:5, Informative)
"We can make the enemy's command centers not work by changing their data system. We can cause the enemy's headquarters to make incorrect judgments by sending disinformation. We can dominate the enemy's banking system and even its entire social order." General Pan, Chinese PLA
Now, that was in 1996. I think he read the tea leaves correctly even back then, and the world has become a lot more interconnected in the last 14 years. Read More [uscc.gov]
Re:A list? (Score:3, Informative)
Last I knew they produced Dell's networking gear, not sure if that is still the case.
Re:Don't worry, it wouldn't work anyway (Score:3, Informative)
Such devices are really just a side business for Huawei anyway. They are big in mobile network equipment - base stations, their backbone, etc. Apparently it's comparably good & reliable to "old" brands, while being significantly cheaper. And becoming more and more popular.
Re:This is easy (Score:5, Informative)
Cisco sued Hauwei and settled out of court. Here is Cisco legal filing (details on pg 3 & 4): http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/Cisco_Mot_for_PI.pdf [cisco.com]
TFA asked who owns & controls Hauwei. We don't know what the terms of the legal settlement were. Maybe Cisco owns a large stake.
Re:Juha Saarinen is a Finn (Score:1, Informative)
The Finnish government doesn't care about Linux. Huawei competes with Nokia Siemens Networks though.
Re:This is easy (Score:4, Informative)
Dont let that stop you, though, Id be interested in how truthers get around that little obstacle-- its bound to be amusing.