Chinese Tech Giant Huawei — Friend/Foe, Neither/Nor…or Somewhere In Between?
America ranks 30th in mobile speed. Not only do we pay more for access but without a shift onto the 5G network, we’ll be paying more for an increasingly slower network.
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The worldwide use of mobile technology has increased by over 200% in the past five years, making building out a 5G mobile network for the American mobile market imperative to remain competitive.
However, compared to current mobile speeds around the world, America ranks a distant 30th.
While most American telecom companies have introduced 5G to their networks, to describe the US roll-out as sluggish would be an understatement.
The one company looking to expedite this and make an inroad into the American 5G market is Chinese tech giant Huawei. But in May of 2019, the Trump administration slammed the brakes on the tech behemoth.
ENEMY OF THE STATE
The Trump administration feels that Huawei poses an “unacceptable” risk to national security, which includes the infrastructure of the internet. This prompted President Trump to declare “a national emergency” and placed Huawei on the US Entity List. This list, issued by the US Department of Commerce, restricts those on it to severe exporting, re-exporting and transfer rules.
The Entity List is essentially a blacklist.
President Trump claimed that if Hauwei gained access to that kind of infrastructure there could be “potentially catastrophic effects.” Setting aside the fact that it’s dubious that Donald Trump knows anything about technological infrastructure, there is no denying that security risks in technology are real.
All snark aside — isn’t the internet as a whole is one giant security risk?
One of the Trump administration’s chief concerns is that Hauwei “can be compelled by Chinese law to hand over data or spy on behalf of the Chinese government.” That’s a fact.
