I'm surprised how few free/open market advocates have come rushing to Huawei's defense. It seems everyone's caught the protectionism bug these days.
Fact of the matter is they're being singled out not because of the their Iran dealings (Numerous US corporations have done this in the past and paid only modest fines), but at the behest of corporate lobbying efforts on the part of Huawei's competitors whose high margin business models are under assault.
You're stating that they're being singled out for just doing business and that businesses are just afraid of losing money. You seem to be ignoring the trade secret theft, IP theft, multiple intelligence agencies investigating them and stating that their hardware shouldn't be used, practically being an arm of the Chinese military intelligence, and probably more I'm forgetting. Seems like a very disingenuous argument to be making...
> multiple intelligence agencies investigating them and stating that their hardware shouldn't be used, practically being an arm of the Chinese military intelligence
Has anyone come forward with /any/ hard evidence that implicates huawei spying on their customers? This is my biggest gripe in this whole mess. The fact that no evidence has surfaced yet, despite how easily obtainable it would be for govs, indicates to me that that these accusations are motivated by geopolitics and have little to do with whether huawei customers are being spied upon or not.
As for disingenuity, I think that hurtling accusations at people without any sort of supporting evidence is what's disgustingly disingenuous.
It seems silly to debate the existence of the possibility that Huawei can spy on their customers or whether it has happened before. They ship binary blob software updates to the hardware routinely, as does any other vendor of this kind of equipment.
The only reasonable question is whether you believe Huawei will exploit this opportunity if asked or "asked" by the Chinese government.
Perhaps, but then following the same line of logic would make all hardware vendors equally suspect. All hardware vendors will eventually comply if "asked" by their government (including US, remember prism?). The only difference is the formalities followed.
I plan to continue using huawei as long as their pricing remains competitive or real hard evidence of foulplay is made public. Expecting people to single out a single vendor just because the a government with a history of lying said so is just silly.
Yes, people and organizations have come forward and said they have evidence. It's a simple google search away. You, similar to the OP, seem to be ignoring all of the many warnings from many organizations. If you think that intelligence agencies are going to show you, a random person, or the public the evidence directly I think you're not really aware of how they work. Why would they burn assets and methods to prove this when everyone agrees on it?
I would probably agree with you that attaining evidence of this spying would be somewhat easier for governments than for others. However, the rest of your assertion that these accusations are only due to geopolitics is pretty out there given it's almost universal at this point that people think Huawei are not on the up and up.
Hurtling accusations without any sort of supporting evidence is literally what you've just done. There's a ton of evidence out there to not use them.
Here are some pieces of evidence for you that literally were on page 1 and 2 of a search:
Yep, I'll just grab that from the CIA, NSA, FBI, and Australian Intelligence services for you. Should I assume you want it by today?
This might be the most absurd and rude statement all in one that I've seen on HN before. You're surprisingly aggressive and defensive on behalf of a Chinese multinational in your comments and don't actually seem to be interested in hearing the truth. Interesting.
I appreciate the intention in your comment to promote greater tolerance, but posting in the flamewar style is exactly the wrong way to do it, and violates the site guidelines. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow them, we'd appreciate it.
Huawei is singled out? No, Huawei is repsected as public benefit or national benefit in China. Listen to the new "public benefit" song "Huawei's beauty": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0tvr5ETVdE.
Huawei is never singled out - it is protected by Chinese government, supported by Chinese government and run by Chinese government. It is not open to the market.
Because the Chinese is not a free market, at least far less, by huge margins, than the US or any other Western nation one.
Huawei has been free to operate, and even bid in large contracts. Name one Western company allowed the same degree of freedom in China.
If Huawei wants to get equal treatment, its CEO should ask the Chinese government to truly open their economy, and allow outside companies to truly compete.
Yeah - US is a free market and should everyone in. But China should exclude whoever they like. And it is all totally fair right? Why not, because US is a free market and how dare they didn't let Huawei in?
Fact of the matter is they're being singled out not because of the their Iran dealings (Numerous US corporations have done this in the past and paid only modest fines), but at the behest of corporate lobbying efforts on the part of Huawei's competitors whose high margin business models are under assault.