Huawei sues U.S. government, says purchasing ban unconstitutional
Chinese smartphone and communications equipment manufacturer Huawei on Thursday local time followed through with threats to sue the U.S. government over legislation that bars government agencies from buying its products.
In a complaint filed with a U.S. district court in Texas, Huawei claims elements of 2018's U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (PDF link) that limit government agency spending are unconstitutional. Specifically, section 889 of NDAA, entitled "Prohibition on certain telecommunications and video surveillance services," restricts executive government agencies from purchasing telecommunications equipment manufactured by Huawei and ZTE.
As noted by CNBC, Huawei claims the NDAA provision is a "bill of attainder," or a legislative act that declares a person or persons guilty of an act and punishes them without due process. Such legislation is deemed unconstitutional.
Further, by codifying a prohibition under NDAA, the U.S. government is depriving Huawei of due process, disallowing it of hearing charges or fighting those allegations in court.
Section 889 was born from government allegations of espionage on the part of Huawei and ZTE. Despite Huawei's consistent denial of those claims, the U.S. has sought not only to rid official agencies of the company's hardware, but impress security concerns on consumers.
"The U.S. Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products," Huawei Rotating Chairman Gu Ping said in a statement, reports Reuters.
Separately, Huawei, company CFO Wanzhou Meng and "unofficial affiliate" Skycom are facing U.S. Department of Justice charges for bank fraud, wire fraud, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors allege Huawei conducted business operations in Iran through Skycom in violation of U.S. sanctions on the country and subsequently lied about banking partnerships tied to the endeavor. Charges also include allegations that Huawei personnel stole trade secrets relating to a T-Mobile robot called "Tappy." The company is also charged with obstruction for allegedly moving witnesses beyond U.S. reach and attempting to destroy or conceal evidence from investigators.
In a complaint filed with a U.S. district court in Texas, Huawei claims elements of 2018's U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (PDF link) that limit government agency spending are unconstitutional. Specifically, section 889 of NDAA, entitled "Prohibition on certain telecommunications and video surveillance services," restricts executive government agencies from purchasing telecommunications equipment manufactured by Huawei and ZTE.
As noted by CNBC, Huawei claims the NDAA provision is a "bill of attainder," or a legislative act that declares a person or persons guilty of an act and punishes them without due process. Such legislation is deemed unconstitutional.
Further, by codifying a prohibition under NDAA, the U.S. government is depriving Huawei of due process, disallowing it of hearing charges or fighting those allegations in court.
Section 889 was born from government allegations of espionage on the part of Huawei and ZTE. Despite Huawei's consistent denial of those claims, the U.S. has sought not only to rid official agencies of the company's hardware, but impress security concerns on consumers.
"The U.S. Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products," Huawei Rotating Chairman Gu Ping said in a statement, reports Reuters.
Separately, Huawei, company CFO Wanzhou Meng and "unofficial affiliate" Skycom are facing U.S. Department of Justice charges for bank fraud, wire fraud, violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors allege Huawei conducted business operations in Iran through Skycom in violation of U.S. sanctions on the country and subsequently lied about banking partnerships tied to the endeavor. Charges also include allegations that Huawei personnel stole trade secrets relating to a T-Mobile robot called "Tappy." The company is also charged with obstruction for allegedly moving witnesses beyond U.S. reach and attempting to destroy or conceal evidence from investigators.
Comments
The simple fact that the CIA and the NSA issued the warning isn’t good enough for them. I get not trusting some parts of our govt, but when the part that spies on other countries warns the American people that there is a real risk, I think we should listen.
What does that even mean?
At least America has rights that allow such suits.
Apple can do jack shit about the boycott tactics in China.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/14/17011246/huawei-phones-safe-us-intelligence-chief-fears
The same agencies that said Russia meddled in the election and are no friends to the administration. Their findings were valid then, but now they aren’t — for the Chinese Cheer Squad, anyway.
Cognitive dissonance, much?
I don’t like the thought of my country tracking me, but the thought of another country tracking me creeps me out.
Has anyone seen how many cameras China has in public to watch them? Do they get that you can get arrested by looking at a website they label as subversive?
They still want the device because it will do 5G. Great trade off!!
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-03-06/problem-xis-china-model?utm_source=twitter_posts&utm_campaign=tw_daily_soc&utm_medium=social
Huawei is has been very successful in the emerging nations selling their telecom systems at low prices, with subsidies, and even with financing, all with the blessings and support of the CCP. Western nations have not been as welcoming, citing issues of National Security.
Coincidentally, those countries that have bans or attempted bans of Huawei telecom, are seeing unusual retaliation in the form of export contract cancellations, and export "friction", a sure sign the the Chinese Government has an interest in Huawei's success in the West. Likely as well, the two unlucky Canadian's picked up for "spying", are hostages in the extradition drama of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei CFO.
yet more;
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-06/diplomatic-outbursts-mar-xi-s-plan-to-raise-china-on-world-stage
China sees Huawei as a national champion and I have no doubt that it takes some decisions based on how Huawei is treated by some countries. That is not a problem. The US has literally been threatening its allies for weeks over Huawei. There is a big difference between the two situations though.
Does China want to see more success for Huawei in the west? Why wouldn't it?
The US is currently negotiating with the UK on possible post Brexit agreements as it wants US companies to have more success in the UK. This is normal.
Country to country, where politics underlies a large part of what goes on, is not the same as country to company. If you start singling out one particular company and take your case and attempt to impose it on other countries you are very likely to get into hot water both politically and legally. Especially if you have very little to back up your case in the first place.
Remember, this is about protectionism, not security. At the MWC press conference that the US delegation held (yes, unbelievable but true) they were asked point blank to give a statement on that pesky detail of evidence. They didn't. This fact was echoed in the sunseqsubs articles in the press.
Huawei is NOT China. It is a private company.
I suggest we simply wait and see what comes of this.
A company that so clearly committed fraud to hide its violation of Iran sanctions that the US government--and Canada--risked international blowback to prosecute those crimes is suddenly innocent because some AI troll account has stood on a soapbox and announced that "it says it obeys the laws!"
Huawei is a project of Communist Party members. It's hard to see how one could extract this massive, barely profitable state enterprise from the PRC. It sure couldn't operate on its own.
It's also well known that China is gunning at owning technology markets and will spare no expense to dump products at a loss until it owns the global means of production. that's been evident since the 90s.
Risks exist everywhere - even today. Just ask all those countries who have detected attempts by the US to get into their networks.
Most security experts agree that 5G should evolve into something more secure than 4G. It will be more pervasive but far more scrutiny, development and planning at an industry level is taking place than it ever did for LTE.
Proposals for an industry wide security certification protocol are also being looked at.
However, just like today with computer software, there will be bugs, human error etc. Governments - of all flavours - will continue to try and find a way in through any crack they find. There is nothing new here except maybe for what Huawei stated (half in jest and half seriously): Using Huawei gear makes it harder for the NSA.
If you, personally, get the creeps when some foreign government (in your opinion, ar least) tries to get at your data, you should also be able to understand that other people feel the same way in their countries when it comes to the NSA (which creeps you out, but less).
You should also understand why other countries resent being threatened on what to do with regards to their handling of 5G by the US. It is overreaching its power and this is seen as abuse. By extension you should also understand why Huawei is defending itself.
Here is a decent summary of the current situation:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/03/07/huawei-sues-the-u-s-but-this-is-not-about-the-u-s/#30fc18f870e8
It is not about shiny new toys. People understand the risks. The risks have always existed but from risk to reality there can be quite a gap and without evidence, everything rings shallow. The US doesn't have a very good record here.