Huawei thanks Uncle Sam for returning its seized comms kit ... two years later, ya jerks

Huawei has dropped a lawsuit against the US government after the Department of Commerce returned hardware it seized from the company back in September 2017. The Chinese networking giant had sent a bunch of its telecoms gear to a lab in California for commercial testing, however, the commerce department grabbed the gear as it …

[Pascal Monett]

"should be subject to legal constraints"

Um, guys, with Trump at the helm, legality is a species on the brink of extinction.

[Julian Garrett]

Re: "should be subject to legal constraints"

And how does that compare with the annexation of the SCS.

And Xi putting a cherry on the top by promising never to militarise them.

In the Rose Garden no less.

[Mephistro]

Re: "should be subject to legal constraints"

The main difference is that China is not trying to pretend that it is a democracy.

[sanmigueelbeer]

Re: "should be subject to legal constraints"

legality is a species on the brink of extinction

Wrong. In America, "legality" is merely a "guide". 3-letter agencies have (additional) the "option" to abide by it or not.

Addendum: And if there is no precedence then an army of American lawyers will knock something up in a jiffy.

Remember: China spying on everyone. It's a big, big thing. And bad. America spying on everyone. It's called BAU (business as usual), aka "watch-a lookin' at".

[quxinot]

Re: "should be subject to legal constraints"

To be fair, as opposed to which presidency?

I certainly can't think of one in my lifetime that didn't ignore the law when it didn't suit them. Perhaps they're more brazen today than they once were, but certainly this is not new behavior....

[LeahroyNake]

Ethical considerations?

“However, we felt there may well be geopolitical or ethical considerations that the Government need to take into account when deciding whether they should use Huawei’s equipment.”

Why only apply ethical considerations to Huawei ? Ahhh you like your iPhone so that's sorted then.

The first search returns the below but I'm sure everyone here knows the history, it's still happening.

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-foxconn-breaking-chinese-labor-law-2019-9?r=US&IR=T

[alain williams]

Did they drop the kit on the floor

from a great height before they returned it ? This seems to be the usual procedure.

[Zarno]

Re: Did they drop the kit on the floor

I've been told the proper recollection is "The items in question encountered acute changes in relative position, resulting in unpredictable changes to density and structure."

[Fred Dibnah]

Re: Did they drop the kit on the floor

It took them a while to load up the necessary back doors. Best thing to do with that kit is crush it, then crush it again.

[Tom 35]

Re: Did they drop the kit on the floor

I find a flight of concrete steps can substituted when something is to heavy or awkward to to get to a great height.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Did they drop the kit on the floor

It fell down the stairs while being questioned = standard police procedure

[rskurat]

Re: Did they drop the kit on the floor

dropped while attempting to escape, how sad

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Did they drop the kit on the floor

Nah. They just kept it for a couple of years, until it had become completely obsolete.

Then they kindly returned it - with a smirk.

[Alister]

elsewhere in the world of Huawei today, British politicians are getting tired of waiting for the government's decision on the inclusion of so-called high risk vendors in building 5G networks locally.

You surprise me, I didn't think any British politicians were doing anything now except sit on their hands.

[VikiAi]

Sitting on your hands is very tiring! Your hands can even go to sleep after a while!

[Jimmy2Cows]

5G Leader

The continued delay will only prolong uncertainty for network operators, risking the UK's position as a leader for 5G deployment.

Why so vital that the UK 'leads' 5G rollout? Understandable if it where say the first succesful satellite launch, or the first successful mobile phone call even.

But I see zero need to be first for helping users burn their data caps ever faster, or allowing mobile companies to get all gougey with reasonably sized data plans.

Questionable ecomonic projections on the benefits of 5G be damned. So far the use cases of 5G over 3G/4G seem gimicky at best.

FFS let someone else iron out the kinks, bring the data caps up and the prices down, then roll it out here.

[Tom 35]

"breaking export violations"

So you can't ship advanced kit to China?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: "breaking export violations"

Or even to allies.

Back in the day we got blocked exporting a graphics board with an ARM processor to the UK.

"Graphics card with embedded processor" = advanced technology

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a surprise, the returning that is, as the police in the US can confiscate anything they like, saying it could have been used in a crime. Rarely gets returned as they can use or sell it.

[veti]

So they have to drop the lawsuit saying "give us our kit back", because the cause has gone away.

Doesn't mean they can't file a new one for "abuse of process" and "tortious interference with legitimate trade", or whatever the correct legal jargon would be.

[rskurat]

wait: "breaking export violations"? Meaning they were in compliance? Good to see these well-paid gov't functionaries can write American correctly.

[Tempest]

"there may ... be geopolitical or ethical considerations ... Government need to take into account"

Since when has the "Government" been found in the same sentence as "ethical considerations"?

Trump is a fine example, as have many UK Governments.