back to article Poland may consider Huawei ban amid 'spy' arrests – reports

A Polish official has said he couldn’t rule out “legislative changes” to allow the nation to ban the use of a company’s products, following the local arrest of a Huawei staffer. The country’s internal security agency (Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego, ABW) last week detained a man named by Polish media as Wang Weijing, a …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "we will consider legislative changes that would allow such a move"

    Oh well, Poland is not lacking authoritarian moves, lately... do they believe European brands devices could be assembled in Poland, maybe?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "we will consider legislative changes that would allow such a move"

      Just a friendly reminder that these bozos only got around 37% of the popular vote and have no business (also within the domestic legal framework, hence the EU intervention) performing as sweeping changes to how the country is run as they do. And they certainly do not represent the mindset of "Poland" as a whole.

      1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

        Re: "we will consider legislative changes that would allow such a move"

        Sadly those bozos are typical of many countries, UK included, that have any sort of first-past-the-post system of election that magnifies differences.

  2. lglethal Silver badge
    Joke

    “this incident has brought Huawei into disrepute”.

    Yes, how dare you get caught!!!

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      they got caught

      yeah, that's something that China's government needs to re-consider, whether "communistic practices" like trying to police and spy on everyone is actually 'a good thing'.

      Perhaps they'd do so much better by providing quality goods and services at low, low prices? OK that's capitalistic, but still...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: they got caught

        Yes, they should adopt capitalist practices like trying to police and spy on everyone.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RFC...

    The Internet shall replace all Huawei-bound spy-packets with malware-packets.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: RFC...

      But besides the evil bit we should add an extension to identify the vendor, unluckily the MAC gets lost across routing...

      1. Rajesh Kanungo

        Re: RFC...

        MAC address can be easily spoofed. In fact most Ethernet chips come with the chip manufacturer's MAC ID but once you place it on a device (e.g. a router, camera, etc.) you switch it to the device manufacturer's IDs. It is easy to masquerade ... unless we also have some form of digital signature at the MAC layer. Which would imply that each processor has a private key. There are signature anonymization techniques that would protect the privacy of the device ...

        1. GnuTzu
          Unhappy

          Re: RFC... -- Damned if you do; damned if you don't.

          Yup, either allow anonymity or impose standards that increase the ways your system can be profiled and reduce privacy. And, then there'd be a whole new level of anonymization on the market.

          Damned if you do; damned if you don't.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "MAC address can be easily spoofed"

          Yes, but when you spoof the MAC address you should also set the evil bit, as per RFC 3514...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Huawei distanced itself by sacking the employee ... the “incident has brought Huawei into disrepute"

    Way to stand by your employee, Huawei. This move totally doesn't make you look shifty and like you've got something to hide.

    1. FozzyBear
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Huawei distanced itself by sacking the employee ...

      Have to agree the CFO gets arrested ( just so happens to be the CEO's daughter ) for violating international embargoes , they along with the Chinese government claim among other things, human rights violations. Another high level Manager within the Company gets arrested for spying and they dump him like a steaming dog turd.

      Coincidence? Maybe, but that's one hell of a coincidence to disregard.

    2. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Stop

      Re: Huawei distanced itself by sacking the employee ... [etc.]

      sounds to me like they're damned if they do [tolerant/supportive of spying] or damned if they don't [betraying the employee].

      So what would YOU do, AC, in this case? Can you see ANY 'right' action in this case?

      (my guess is 'no')

      1. PhilDin

        Re: Huawei distanced itself by sacking the employee ... [etc.]

        Here's a potential right action: announce that the employee is suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation, the results of which will be passed on to law enforcement and that furthermore, they will fully cooperate with any lawful investigation.

  5. FlossyThePig

    Cynical, moi!

    Are all these stories about Huawei really put about because their systems are too secure and various government agencies can’t hack into them.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: Cynical, moi!

      That would be nice to think, unfortunately I think reality is not so simple.

      What seems to grow more and more certain each passing week is that the hallali has been launched against Huawei. Arresting a salesperson for spying ? What has the world come to ?

      In the Cold War days, the Soviet embassies would have attachés and PR people and you knew that they were the spies trained by the KGB. The US replicated with CIA agents working as chauffeurs, weather forecasters and, of course, PR people. It was a job.

      Now spycraft has been given to bloody salespeople ? Oh the humanity.

  6. Cronus
    Joke

    About time. Polish manufactured devices for spying on the Polish people, not Chinese devices!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Paranoia?

    It all sounds a tad paranoid to me - and. yes, I have just bought the good value Huawei P Smart. (Should that be pronounced: "Who are we"?)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Put everything in Perspective

    It is the season to be USA-aligned for the current Law and Order lot in Poland.

    While there are anti-H doubts everywhere, they are the only one in Europe doing a massive stink on anti-Huawei grounds and they are doing it only a couple of weeks before hosting an anti-Iran conference based on USA request. All of it is a totally made to order thing. PIS - realigning to adjust for the changes in the power balance in the Eu once UK leaves completely and show "grattitude" to their real master.

    It is surprising how effective is our media suppression nowdays - nobody related the two events. You cannot find Javad Zariff's tweet on Polish "gratefulness" and how do they thank the country which nurtured back to health and allowed 150K poles to reach safety in WW2 either. It makes a pretty interesting read too.

    I guess he has not learned yet that grateful and Polish Nationalist (especially the Law and Order) flavour does not combine well in one sentence. Those who know European history are well aware that this just comes with the territory. You get three great powers to split Poland. Two of them evict the locals and/or completely assimilate them. One leaves them to speak their language, practice their customs and follow their traditions. QI question: which one do rabid polish nationalists like the PIS(*) hate most?

    (*)I am leaving the story of how they came to power and who assisted them to win the elections out of frame - Google it.

    1. YourNameHere

      Re: Put everything in Perspective

      Dude, your getting better, but you still need to work on your English.

      1. farranut

        Re: Put everything in Perspective

        *you're

      2. djvrs

        Re: Put everything in Perspective

        Oh the irony....

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    More propaganda - thanks to the Polish lapdogs

    Wolf. WOLF. WOOOOOOLLLLLFFFFF!

  10. ivan5

    Ah, another government subverted by the 5Is.

  11. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Canada...

    China just upped the stakes in the stand-off with Canada...

    "China sentences Canadian man to death for drug smuggling"

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-46866941

    1. Daniel Garcia 2

      Re: Canada...

      That for me is the most pitiful bit of this charade. Getting a random tourist and put them in a kangaroo court that serves dead penalties like candies ( I took them 1 hour total to change the 15 years for a death sentence...) instead of their economic muscle makes them looks like monsters and weak.

  12. pleb

    "Huawei has insisted that it "complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates..."

    That's the inescapable problem - they operate in China (obviously), and I believe Chinese law obliges companies to say "yes" when asked act in the Chinese national interest. More may be asked of a company in a position to do more, and building a foreign power's comms network puts them in such a position.

    1. bondyboy

      And what difference does that have to this?

      https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/10/gchq_techie_deputisation_powers

  13. a_yank_lurker

    Questions, Questions, Questions

    I am puzzled why several governments, allegedly independently, have finger Huawei as providing kit useful for Chinese spying. It is not as if no one spies on each other and will not use either legitimate business or fronts for their activities whenever they can get away with it. If Huawei was being used as front for a spying operation how did their cover get blown? Normally, spookhausen do not like to talk about how the blow the cover of the other side.

    A curious state of affairs.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: Questions, Questions, Questions

      "I am puzzled why several governments, allegedly independently,"

      Up until now, the "allegedly independent" governments have been members of Five Eyes and New Zealand in particular has a long history of doing whatever it's told, due to severe economic kickings when it's done its own thing (1963 report on the futility of the US entering the vietnam war, 1986 nuclear armed ship ban, etc etc). Australia's never needed the kicking (Pine Gap).

      The timing of this is "rather suspect", given the upcoming conference....

      As for why these rattles are being waved so loudly: It's a combination of economics, mindshare and access. The chips inside the Huawei kit may be Broadcom, but most of the money is going to China, the equipment is seen as Chinese and american spooks aren't getting a chance to intercept shipments to put _their_ spyware onboard.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sales and marketing

    I have become so sceptical about many things recently.

    I haven't the faintest idea if Huawei are guilty, or otherwise, of the things they are accused ( or suspected ) of.

    However, this is a campaign that Cisco and other major network players must dearly love.

    If Huawei leak information to the Chinese government, I wonder if Cisco leak a little as well? .. and who to? Maybe other major players ( heaven forbid ) also subvert 'stuff'?

    I think I will go back to writing letters. At least then I will know for certain that nobody ( including the intended recipient ) will be able to extract meaningful information from any missive I may post. :)

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego

    Impressive.

    Unpronounceable, but impressive.

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego

      Not really unpronounceable. Nowhere near the usual "zh" frequency for colloquial Polish.

      Try this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrz%C4%85szcz

      It was used by the WW2 resistance to verify that the person is a Pole.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No

    No we don't want equipment which sends packets to CN.

    We'll gladly take equipment which sends packets to US though.

  17. Dedobot

    Like I already said here- most depressing is the fact that HW have the best 5g tech combined with best prices. Fighting CN with restrictions will work at an point-after it-free fall .

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