Huawei for dummies: the Chinese technology society and its ban by our spies

OPINION: On Wednesday afternoon, New Zealand's intelligence service, the GCSB, confirmed that it had banned Chinese company Huawei from building Spark's new 5G network.

We quietly accepted Huawei in New Zealand, and Craig Young, General Manager of the Telecommunication Users Association, told him that we were allowing him to create elements of our very high speed network and two mobile networks.

He also had some problems with our copper networks, he says.

But this initiative, explains Paul Spain, computer commentator and founder of Gorilla HQ, draws a clear line for telecom operators in New Zealand – and Huawei: You're out on the rollout of this new technology in New Zealand.

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* Huawei's security risk report for New Zealand may be released this week

But why?

It's probably geopolitics, innit.

We are part of an exclusive spy club called Five Eyes. Yes, it sounds like something from a novel.

Five Eyes is a network of allies made up of New Zealand, the United States, Great Britain, Australia and Canada. To put it bluntly, we, the allies who spy together, stay together and, thanks to Five Eyes, we are part of an exclusive spying network on the rest of the world, just in case.

The Australians have made it clear some time ago that Huawei and another Chinese company ZTE, and by extension it was inferred that the Chinese government, would not be allowed to build their 5G networks.

"The United States is pressuring its allies, New Zealand and Five Eyes partners to make no further use of Huawei in their networks in the future," said the United States. ;Spain.

Once the Australians did this, in addition to the more and more piquant rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, we were increasingly out of step – or some would say naive – in our approach to face the Chinese giant.

The basic concern is this. if Chinese companies are involved in building technology networks, how can we really know that they protect these networks from prying eyes that could benefit from access to data and information passing through these networks.

And yet, we are good with mobile networks and Huawei phones?

Apparently yes. Young from TUANZ says that's what makes this decision a surprise.

"There is something we do not know or understand that the GCSB is aware of the new network."

Or we could simply follow the line so we can stay in our cool spy club.

Who is Huawei?

Well, as Huawei himself says, "Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices with integrated solutions in four key areas – Telecommunication networks, IT, smart devices and cloud services – we are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a smart and fully connected world. "

Or as Wikepdia says: Huawei is a Chinese multinational telecom equipment and consumer electronics company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, in southern China.

A former Chinese soldier, Ren Zhengfei, founded Huawei in 1987. It is now worth a billion or even three. And Huawei is present in many countries around the world and has hundreds of thousands of employees.

I bought a companion 20 because the camera is awesome at night. But does he spy on me?

Of course, yes, but the dance card of the companies that are spying on you while you are online is already raging.

If you're using apps that they're probably spying on you, Google probably knows more about you than your mother, and if you own a US-owned Apple phone, they already have a claim on your first -born. It's probably good. Unless you are a spy of course.

Should we be worried about the Chinese influence in New Zealand?

It depends on your worldview, but the Chinese influence traffic in New Zealand is causing concern. I mean, the last national government had literally a former Chinese spy in its ranks and he's still a member of Parliament.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff has sold a Chinese book for $ 150,000 and Jami-Lee Ross recently exposed the workings and transactions that occur in seeking donations from members of the Chinese / neo-Chinese community. Zealand.

All this is a little dirty and unworthy, and has certainly left some uncomfortable questions unanswered.

More seriously, the academic Anne-Marie Brady, who has written about China's influence in New Zealand, has been the victim of burglary and suspicious transactions with her car, which she sees as related to her job.

She says that's the right decision.

And now?

In a statement, Huawei said he "would actively respond to all concerns and work together to find a solution.

"As a global supplier of telecommunication equipment, we remain committed to developing reliable and secure solutions for our customers." Huawei's 5G equipment is already deployed by leading operators around the world, with whom we have signed more 20 commercial contracts 5G. "

It is to be feared that no Huawei will mean that Spark will have to pay more for its network, otherwise the result could be lower.

But it seems that the GCSB has excluded it.

Is the game over for Huawei? Only time will tell.