FBI Conducted a Sting Operation on Huawei at CES

[danieltien]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-02-04/huawei-sting-offers-rare-glimpse-of-u-s-targeting-chinese-giant

 

Chicago-based Akhan Semiconductor was in development of a potential competitor to Corning's Gorilla Glass, coating glass with a proprietary diamond nanoparticle medium. Huawei expressed interest in the product and agreed to a 60-day evaluation period, during which they promised not to damage the sample and return it on time. Months overdue, Akhan received their sample back, except that it was broken in pieces, with chunks missing. FBI lab testing found that it was hit with a high-powered laser in an attempt to reverse-engineer it. The FBI enlisted the executives in a sting operation that was conducted during the CES show in January, after which the San Diego headquarters of Huawei were raided.

 

"...the government searched the Huawei lab in San Diego where Akhan's glass had been sent. The FBI raid was a secret, but not to Khan and Shurboff, who'd been receiving regular briefings of the investigation's progress through Akhan's lawyer, Renato Mariotti, a well-known former prosecutor who's now a partner at Thompson Coburn LLP. By then, they'd succeeded in getting Huawei representatives to admit, on tape, to breaking the contract with Akhan and, evidently, to violating U.S. export-control laws. Huawei did not respond to repeated requests for comment. This story is based on documents, including emails and text messages exchanged among Huawei, Akhan, and the FBI as well as reporting from the sting operation in Las Vegas and interviews with Khan and Shurboff."

[Fasauceome]

Ah, so I see the problem. Huawei didn't pinky swear.

[MrMcMuffinJr]

A bunch of idiots over there. They knew this would happen. I was thinking of buying one of their products today...NOT ANYMORE!!!!!

[BobVonBob]

3 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

Ah, so I see the problem. Huawei didn't pinky swear.

Everyone forgets the pinky swear.

 

This wasn't so much "at CES" as "during CES" though.

[Haaselh0ff]

1 hour ago, danieltien said:

FBI lab testing found that it was hit with a high-powered laser in an attempt to reverse-engineer it.

I think I found the problem. The FBI just wanna know why they're using high-powered lasers!

[Syntaxvgm]

Is it me or are the past couple years (trump admin) the first time where we're calling china out for doing what china does- IP theft? 

[RejZoR]

Chinese just can't help themselves... they just have to steal others work/tech/products.

[peanuts104]

11 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

Is it me or are the past couple years (trump admin) the first time where we're calling china out for doing what china does- IP theft? 

Yes, it is.

[GoldenLag]

10 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Chinese just can't help themselves... they just have to steal others work/tech/products.

i mean, their phones has had pretty bad glass in the past. so at least they know who to steal from and what.......

 

inb4 the "definitcly not A12 Bionic" kiririn 69420 from Huawei

[Ithanul]

21 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

Is it me or are the past couple years (trump admin) the first time where we're calling china out for doing what china does- IP theft? 

More like the long going issue being a bit more talked about in the media.

The disputes between both countries been going on way before the current administration.  Along with compliants filed even back during previous administrations.  One WTO compliant I'm aware of was filed back in Apirl 2007 agaisnt China over IP theft.

[Guest]

Always knew Huawei was phoney

[Syntaxvgm]

4 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

This definitely has nothing to do with Trump. There's a push in the industry for this. He's also not even anti spying, outside of the campaign trail complaining about being wire tapped by Obama.

I think trump has a lot to do with the huawei and ZTE bans, mainly posturing. Though yah, why I'm talking this admin in general not trump in particular. It's a new concept to me, we've never really help them accountable 

[Syntaxvgm]

2 minutes ago, Ithanul said:

More like the long going issue being a bit more talked about in the media.

The disputes between both countries been going on way before the current administration.  Along with compliants filed even back during previous administrations.  One WTO compliant I'm aware of was filed back in Apirl 2007 agaisnt China over IP theft.

The disputes were there but any action from the government? 

To be clear I'm not saying trump is the cause, just the trump admin is when it started. 

[aezakmi]

Huawei: *sells phones that are better than the iphone*

 

USA:

[pas008]

8 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

The disputes were there but any action from the government? 

To be clear I'm not saying trump is the cause, just the trump admin is when it started. 

huawei stuff started before trump?

[Ithanul]

22 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

The disputes were there but any action from the government? 

To be clear I'm not saying trump is the cause, just the trump admin is when it started. 

Yes, the US used Special 301 actions on China by declaring them a "Priority Foreign Country" back in 1991.  This lead China to agree to a bilateral IPR agreement which in turn changed legislation, of course, not much change in enforement by China. Then, in 1994, the US did so again to try to force China to enforce IP laws along with threatening trade sactions.

 

Older document, but has a bit of the history between the two and the disputes on IP laws:  https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2190&context=ilj

[Syntaxvgm]

2 minutes ago, pas008 said:

huawei stuff started before trump?

as far as I'm aware we've always seen them as a  security problem and believed the chinese were spying, but no action 

[imreloadin]

Calling it now, this thread will be locked by the end of the day with the way you guys are carrying on

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Even though it is highly unlikely that Trump himself is involved, he's not doing anything to counteract it nor do the various organizations need to hinder themselves for the sake of the administration.

Was hearing on the BBC News that the FBI investigation had been ongoing for at least 5 years, and found misconduct from at least 10 years ago.

[pas008]

9 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

as far as I'm aware we've always seen them as a  security problem and believed the chinese were spying, but no action 

looks to be the start of actions to me by getting other countries onboard and removing their products

 

[GoldenLag]

29 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

This definitely has nothing to do with Trump. There's a push in the industry for this. He's also not even anti spying, outside of the campaign trail complaining about being wire tapped by Obama.

this is just US doing US things. nothing have honestly changed that much. 

 

*looks around for cleaning admins and the approaching locksmith

[Fnige]

 

1 minute ago, pas008 said:

looks to be the start of actions to me by getting other countries onboard and removing their products

 

Soo.... Huawei is going to at least somewhat die because of "No producto here, Hunni"

[Drak3]

17 minutes ago, pas008 said:

huawei stuff started before trump?

Not the actual action being taken against them.

[pas008]

Just now, Drak3 said:

Not the actual action being taken against them.

raising awareness and getting others on board is actions

 

actually the first actions along with internal testing

[Bigbootyjudy]

Okay hopefully this thread doesn't get a lock but wow, Huawei is dumb. They make good products but wow, they are dumb. I was looking at some of their phones the other day because I'm a teenager that doesn't care about security (@ facebooks vpn app that I missed  ) I guess they won't have me buying anymore because this is just "tech plagiarism".