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Verizon AT&T Businesses Cellphones China Communications Government Network United States Technology

Verizon Drops Plans To Sell Huawei Phones Due To US Government Pressure (bloomberg.com) 69

Posted by BeauHD from the under-pressure dept.
Bloomberg reports that Verizon has dropped all plans to sell phones by Chinese manufacturer Huawei due to pressure from the U.S. government. The decision comes after AT&T walked away from a deal earlier this month to sell Huawei smartphones in the U.S. Bloomberg: Huawei devices still work on both companies' networks, but direct sales would've allowed them to reach more consumers than they can through third parties. The government's renewed concern about Chinese spying is creating a potential roadblock in the race between Verizon and AT&T to offer 5G, the next generation of super-fast mobile service. Huawei is pushing to be among the first to offer 5G-capable phone, but the device may be considered off-limits to U.S. carriers who are beginning to offer the next-generation service this year in a few cities. U.S. security agencies and some lawmakers fear that 5G phones made by companies that may have close ties to the Chinese government could pose a security risk.
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Verizon Drops Plans To Sell Huawei Phones Due To US Government Pressure More

Verizon Drops Plans To Sell Huawei Phones Due To US Government Pressure

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  • Who would want to buy a phone... (Score:5, Funny)

    by markjhood2003 ( 779923 ) on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @05:28PM (#56036265)
    preloaded with Chinese spyware you can't delete? Good old American NSA spyware is good enough for me!
  • ....free market and Trump's promises to remove regulations.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      No, he ran on a platform of protectionism. Something that's actually popular.

      • I'm still trying to figure out what his platform actually was. Depends on which of his brainfarts he chose to release that day. Really the only consistency has been incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric - that noble, time-tested populace-rallying tool.

        • I'm still trying to figure out what his platform actually was. Depends on which of his brainfarts he chose to release that day.

          Trump was consistently protectionist and anti-free-trade throughout his campaign and so far through his presidency.

          If you are "trying to figure out" his position on trade, then you haven't been paying attention.

          • Two sides of the same xenophobic coin, as I see it. One of the interesting things with the Trump presidency is how transparently rooted a lot of it is in the psychology of the one man. Not that other presidents didn't have a psyche or an ego, but they did a much better job abstracting that from both their policies and their rhetoric. I don't recall (for example) Bush ever flipping so quickly and pointedly his opinion of a man, as Trump did with Comey, over a perceived personal slight, which is how Trump rea

  • China vs USA (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Mikkeles ( 698461 ) on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @05:36PM (#56036351)

    The Chinese are probably less interested in me (as a non-entity wrt their politics) than the USA, who seem interested in fucking up as many people as possible.

    • The Chinese are probably less interested in me (as a non-entity wrt their politics) than the USA, who seem interested in fucking up as many people as possible.

      Your ignorance is astounding. Do you think the Chinese are any less interested in profit? They will scoop up your info and sell it just as fast as any other company with the added benefit of handing the Chinese government a copy of everything any perhaps leaving a backdoor for them or at least notify them of exploits before they are patched. If you don't think China's government is interested in US citizens then you are completely oblivious to how many companies they steal IP from.

      • If you don't think China's government is interested in US citizens then you are completely oblivious to how many companies they steal IP from.

        Not just that, but there's probably a market selling that data to the US government, whether directly or not. The US and China are adversaries, not enemies.

  • NSA, Chinese, Russia (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    They are all watching, and every modern device is compromised.. Choose your poison.

    Personally, i trust the Chinese devices more than US phones. I'm not a target for the Chinese, but i am for our own government, simply due to my existence..

  • Nationalism ... (Score:3)

    by CaptainDork ( 3678879 ) on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @05:52PM (#56036449)

    ... over capitalism. How odd. The American government knows full well that for all of the technology they have, disassembly of the devices reveals multinational components -- very few of which are American made.

  • Putin put it correctly... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bogaboga ( 793279 ) on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @05:54PM (#56036461)

    These US folks are becoming experts in wasting time. Putin put it correctly: -

    "Dogs bark but the caravan goes on."

    We'll get them online. Enough said.

  • US companies are blocked from the Chinese market over spying fears. China applies pressure and US companies find they are blocked from the Asian market, 60% of the worlds population, and the only major market that has real growth potential.

    • Actually, China already puts a huge 50% import tax on goods. Being blocked from the Chinese market isn't a big deal because few can actually afford them.

      • And yet other countries have free trade deals with them.

        The USA is the 3rd largest trading partner after Australia and China. the new PPTA deal (without the USA) will open up other markets.
        New Zealand has a free trade agreement with China.

        If we had to stop trading with either China or the USA the USA would lose, and that is true for many countries.

        • And yet other countries have free trade deals with them.

          Most nations (including the USA) dance to the tune of their ultra-rich, so it makes sense to undermine one's own nation to get reduced profits rather than none at all.

          If we had to stop trading with either China or the USA the USA would lose, and that is true for many countries.

          Well it's a good thing the USA isn't making crazy demands like that then, eh?

          • "Well it's a good thing the USA isn't making crazy demands like that then, eh?"

            Pulled out of the TPPA, wants to renegotiate NAFTA, and now inching towards a trade war with China, etc etc etc.

            Do you want to check your definition of crazy ?

            • So, you twist my words to make me an opponent? Sure sounds like you just want to argue regardless of what it's about.

  • My mom got a mobile hotspot from Verizon years ago and I groaned when I saw it was made by Huawei. Even if you don't think they're siphoning data, their devices are notorious for abysmal security.

  • I thought that this was the country of freedom!
  • If they don't believe the phones are secure and are telling carriers not to sell them, why not just go all the way and ban their importation and operation on US networks as a national security matter?

  • Is a dick move, but understable, to ban Huawei equipment (cellphones, telecom Gear, servers, storage, datacom and SW) for the goverment at all levels (federal, state, local).

    Is and even dickier move (and not undestable) to ban private enterprises to use the network-side kit.

    But is the dickiest move, and the least understable one, to ban the direct sale of cellphones by carriers.

    Problem #1: Is the public that is the most harmed, as huawei phones are decent phones at decent prices, and joe sixpack could not c

  • I don't care about Chinese and Russian spying or potential spying anymore. Our country has a whole lot more problems than that. We cannot even take care of our most vulnerable citizens and we have the highest incarceration rate in the western world. At this point it's just a distraction from domestic problems.
  • I hate China, Huawei, Spies, Verizon, government intervention, and facisim. Who do I root for, here? :-)

  • Do I really have to point out, all the other phones, made by everyone.. the parts in those phones are from China too? I mean, if the Chinese wanna slip in an AMT-like backdoor into some chips, we're screwed. This is just silly protectionism in the name of national security when it makes no fricken difference whatsoever in regards to national security.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by beckett ( 27524 )

      he parts in those phones are from China too?

      look, do you want to cause a panic or something? look at the box it says "designed in Cupertino". Just calmly masturbate into the eco packaging like the rest of us and try to make sure it's out of view of the iSight camera that may or may not be on.

  • Verizon and AT&T will sell other phones that were still made in China, but that have Americanized names.

    Clearly these phones cannot contain spyware.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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