China Telecom's US arm sues in last-ditch bid to retain license

The US subsidiary of China Telecom has filed an emergency appeal it hopes will prevent the impending revocation of the company's license to operate in the USA, which the The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) terminated in October on grounds the carrier is a national security threat. "Absent a stay, ChinaTelAmericas will …

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad. Go away.

Will you let America own, run, & independantly control your telecommunications inside China or might you be a tad concerned that the American government could screw with your ability to conduct your own affairs? Because if the American telecomm company had rerouted your traffic through their own American servers even for inter-China traffic, then you would be rightly prudent to restrict their access to your infrastructure.

America has just done what is prudent for their own safety, exactly as you would have done were the tables turned. So stop crying foul, nobody has a right to do business in another country if that country doesn't feel safe allowing them to do so. Or would you like to dismantel that big fat wall of yours & let the Mongols in to run your transportation system?

[Duncan Macdonald]

Typical US

As the US companies could not compete on a level playing field, they bribe the politicians to ban the opposition. Heaven forbid that US citizens could be allowed to buy better cheaper products from China than the NSA backdoor infested ones from US companies.

Icon for what should happen to politicians that take bribes to harm people or companies =====>

[elsergiovolador]

Reciprocity

If the US company cannot operate in China under the same terms as Chinese "company" in the US, then that should be case closed.

[Clausewitz 4.0]

Rerouting

A funny case happened. An honest, law-abiding man was working for an ecommerce company, then the management was offered a new internet link, faster and cheaper, from a new provider.

Management, of course, took it.

No big deal, they installed it.

After some days and all going normal, the honest man decided to do a traceroute before taking care of a sensitive business, and... surprise ! All traffic was going first through Chicago, even same-country traffic (South America). Lame.

Some guys, you can see them coming from miles away... no matter how many millions they spend, they can never get to you..

[nautica]

Wellllll.... what MORE proof would anyone want? Lemme think about this'n for a moment.

"...While China Telecom denied it could, would, or has done anything of the sort..."

[...still thinking...]

"...it did myseriously [sic] reroute European telco traffic through China in 2019 and was accused of doing similar things to US government communications in 2020...".

Thinking completed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wellllll.... what MORE proof would anyone want? Lemme think about this'n for a moment.

I agree that a court will probably agree with the FCC.

But I also feel strongly that a regulatory body's decisions should be reviewable by the courts.

In this instance giving them (and their customers) a stay of execution until the courts can review the ban seems reasonable. I have no idea what case they will make but they should be able to make it.

[Clausewitz 4.0]

Re: Wellllll.... what MORE proof would anyone want? Lemme think about this'n for a moment.

Everyone in this business know a simple typo / spoofing of a BGP announcement can get you there (rerouting traffic).

Even F*cking Boring Idiots know how to do it !

The big question is: how long it lasted? By who (person) was the BGP announcement, re-route of traffic made? Which prefixes were re-routed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wellllll.... what MORE proof would anyone want? Lemme think about this'n for a moment.

The US is just so corrupt it can't possibly believe anyone else is different.

one word "Echelon".

Any communications that is sensitive should be encrypted anyway, this is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to (try and) stop superior and cheaper Chinese tech taking over, where it should because its a far better product than anything the US has the capabilities to create (or hack with backdoors) themselves.

[Cuddles]

Re: Wellllll.... what MORE proof would anyone want? Lemme think about this'n for a moment.

"Everyone in this business know a simple typo / spoofing of a BGP announcement can get you there (rerouting traffic)."

True, but that just makes their claims look even sillier. Any telco obviously has the capability to disrupt communications using its network, so saying that you can't just proves you're a liar. When the real question is whether you are willing to do so deliberately, telling blatant lies in the same sentence of your reply really isn't going to help matters.