Huawei employee arrested in Poland on espionage charges

[Deleted member 15428]

Polish authorities have arrested two individuals and accused them of conducting espionage on behalf of the Chinese government, the Polish TV channel TVP has reported (via BBC). One is a Chinese man who is the head of Huawei's sales in the country, according to The New York Times, while the other is a Polish national and employee of the telecoms provider Orange Polska. The network has recently worked with Huawei to build its next-generation 5G network.

The arrests come amid fears that Huawei equipment could be used to spy on behalf of the Chinese government when used to build a country's communications infrastructure. The US has reportedly considered explicitly banning the use of the company's equipment from such networks, and it has also pressured its allies to do the same.

The New York Times reports that the Polish government has identified the Huawei employee as Weijing W, and Polish television said that he worked for the Chinese Consulate in Gdansk, Poland, before joining Huawei in 2011. Meanwhile, the Polish national has been identified as Piotr D., and was employed at Poland's internal security agency, the ABW, before leaving over corruption allegations. The deputy head of Poland's special services, Maciej Wasik, said that Piotr had access to information about the country's secure internal communications systems while at the ABW.

Polish authorities have searched the homes of both men, along with the offices of Huawei, Orange, and the Polish telecommunications regulator, according to TVP. If found guilty, both men could face prison sentences of up to 10 years.

In a statement, Huawei said that it "complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, and we require every employee to abide by the laws and regulations in the countries where they are based." The Chinese foreign ministry said it was, "highly concerned" about the arrests. Orange Polska confirmed that its offices had been searched, but it could not say whether the investigation was linked to Piot D.'s professional work.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/11/18178250/huawei-employee-spy-arrest-poland-espionage-charges

 

[DrewFu]

I honestly don't get why nations allow anything Huawei related into their country at this point.

 

[Charcoal]

I'm shocked!

Well, not that shocked.

 

[BigWinnie1]

I'm shocked!

Well, not that shocked.

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Yeah no one should allow an outside country to build their 5G infrastructure. Or in the Case of the US/Canada/UK we can all build each others. And Maybe add Australia since we all seem to get along for the most part but outside of that I think Soverign governments should promote their local companies to build vital infrastructure like that.

 

[Deleted member 888]

Huawei don't allow you to unlock your bootloader, so I'd never touch one of their phones.

Just not worth running software on a Chinese phone from a company like this. Not necessarily trying to scaremonger, above is my personal view.

 

[Layell]

If you are Polish and live in China right now, listen to your friends in Canada and leave ASAP.

 

[Enkidu]

Yeah no one should allow an outside country to build their 5G infrastructure. Or in the Case of the US/Canada/UK we can all build each others. And Maybe add Australia since we all seem to get along for the most part but outside of that I think Soverign governments should promote their local companies to build vital infrastructure like that.

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Which local companies? Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and to a lesser extent Samsung are more or less the only credible options when it comes to 5G infrastructure at the moment.

 

[Deleted member 6582]

Hubris. The PRC got away this internally because they could pick winners and losers but now that Chinese businesses want to be globally viable the government's control has become a liability.

 

[Deleted member 4783]

Hubris. The PRC got away this internally because they could pick winners and losers but now that Chinese businesses want to be globally viable the government's control has become a liability.

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Yup, Huawei is FUCKED on a global scale. Deservedly so.

 

[Mendrox]

Huawei don't allow you to unlock your bootloader, so I'd never touch one of their phones.

Just not worth running software on a Chinese phone from a company like this. Not necessarily trying to scaremonger, above is my personal view.

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Wups, didn't know they canceled letting you unlock the bootloader. My parents did that with their phones.

 

[Jimrpg]

Hubris. The PRC got away this internally because they could pick winners and losers but now that Chinese businesses want to be globally viable the government's control has become a liability.

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Pretty much. The Chinese leaders are out of touch, they just think they can do what they want. You can't just pay every one off to get rid of your problems.

The problem is, China will probably want revenge in some form.

 

[Dragonelite]

Which local companies? Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and to a lesser extent Samsung are more or less the only credible options when it comes to 5G infrastructure at the moment.

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And off those Huawei is the only one actually making progress on 5G and outspend the others by a very big margin on R&D.
I think qualcomm also has a lot of IP in 5g but they are more in it for the IP licensing income if im not mistaken.

 

[Book One]

Hubris. The PRC got away this internally because they could pick winners and losers but now that Chinese businesses want to be globally viable the government's control has become a liability.

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yup

 

[Deleted member 19003]

Whoopsy Daisy.

 

[Tremorah]

I wonder how much this and the other arrests will affect their phone sales in the future

Apple must be kiddy

 

[Enkidu]

And off those Huawei is the only one actually making progress on 5G and outspend the others by a very big margin on R&D.
I think qualcomm also has a lot of IP in 5g but they are more in it for the IP licensing income if im not mistaken.

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Huawei does outspend everyone else, but they are not the only ones making progress. I know for a fact that there's quite a lot going on at Ericsson, but with that company it's never too late for management to fuck the whole thing up. Qualcomm are not just in it for the IP licensing, they definitely want to make 5G modems, but they are not in the business of making base stations.

 

[KillLaCam]

Huawei is fucked in the West

 

[Palette Swap]

And off those Huawei is the only one actually making progress on 5G and outspend the others by a very big margin on R&D.
I think qualcomm also has a lot of IP in 5g but they are more in it for the IP licensing income if im not mistaken.

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Nokia and Ericsson definitely support 5G network integration and are currently building these for carriers around the world. My understanding is that Huawei have an edge in that they offer a simpler upgrade path from 4G networks to 5G, but that edge is offset by Huawei's reputation.

 

[Dragonelite]

Huawei does outspend everyone else, but they are not the only ones making progress. I know for a fact that there's quite a lot going on at Ericsson, but with that company it's never too late for management to fuck the whole thing up. Qualcomm are not just in it for the IP licensing, they definitely want to make 5G modems, but they are not in the business of making base stations.

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True about qualcomm and 5g modems was more talking about the infrastructure stuff like base station. Seems most makers have their 5g modems stuff done from what I gathered this CES.

 

[Stinkles]

Hauwei had an office directly above the Halo offices when the greatest, most elaborate country and western psychobilly barn-based video game leak of all time happened (that part is 100% true). Coincidence?

Spoiler

Yes

 

[Deleted member 15428]

Hauwei had an office directly above the Halo offices when the greatest, most elaborate country and western psychobilly barn-based video game leak of all time happened (that part is 100% true). Coincidence?

Spoiler

Yes

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?

 

[cirr]

the greatest, most elaborate country and western psychobilly barn-based video game leak of all time happened (that part is 100% true). Coincidence?

Spoiler

Yes

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that doesn't look like Redneck Rampage

 

[lunarworks]

And off those Huawei is the only one actually making progress on 5G and outspend the others by a very big margin on R&D.
I think qualcomm also has a lot of IP in 5g but they are more in it for the IP licensing income if im not mistaken.

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Qualcomm almost certainly has more lawyers than engineers.

If only Nortel were still around to pick up the slack...

 

[Stinkles]

?

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Hauwei used to have a small US office in the same building as Halo. Otherwise it's just a dumb joke. But the leak and timing were real and bizarre and obviously nothing to do with Hauwei. But nobody can confirm Cottoneye Joe was not in Kirkland WA at the time.

 

[Billfisto]

Here's hoping any Polish citizens in China have an easy and quick way out before China decides to retaliate.

 

[5taquitos]

?

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You don't remember when Halo 4 was leaked by some dude playing in a barn? Shit was weird.

 

[Deleted member 9838]

I feel bad for the polish national to be arrested in China for no other reason than collateral

 

[Deleted member 46948]

I honestly don't get why nations allow anything Huawei related into their country at this point.

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The Office of Czech President has a contract with Huawei to "promote" the brand in exchange for free products.
I shit you not. "You'll give us free promotion and in exchange we'll give you phones so we can spy on you lul".

 

[ScandiNavy]

There's political rumbling about if we should use Huawei for our 5G system in Norway.
I hope it will end with an Ericsson contract.

But there has been a few big conttracts that ended with the cheapest offer in recent years.
So I doubt it.

 

[Buckle]

Well, time for the Chinese government to kidnap some polish tourists.

 

[Syriel]

Hauwei had an office directly above the Halo offices when the greatest, most elaborate country and western psychobilly barn-based video game leak of all time happened (that part is 100% true). Coincidence?

Spoiler

Yes

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This was filmed in your backyard shed, wasn't it?

The Office of Czech President has a contract with Huawei to "promote" the brand in exchange for free products.
I shit you not. "You'll give us free promotion and in exchange we'll give you phones so we can spy on you lul".

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https://face2faceafrica.com/article/china-caught-spying-african-union-headquarters-addis-ababa

 

[rubidium]

If, only if CCP remained a bit more humble Huawei would have not gone into such troubles.
It seems like CCP really wanted to take over the world, and whole plan is starting to backfire.

 

[Dingens]

Given the US' history with this sort of thing...
my money would be on this sentence, or rather, the bolded part:

The US has reportedly considered explicitly banning the use of the company's equipment from such networks, and it has also pressured its allies to do the same.

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[R0987]

I wonder how much this and the other arrests will affect their phone sales in the future

Apple must be kiddy

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Wouldn't suprise me if they were outright banned in the eu and america.

Huawei is fucked in the West

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Not just Huawei I think chinese telecom companies in general are in for a though time.

 

[Micael]

Wouldn't suprise me if they were outright banned in the eu and america.



Not just Huawei I think chinese telecom companies in general are in for a though time.

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Good luck banning Huawei and Xiaomi phone sales in the EU, even banning the use of Huawei in 5G infrastructure would be tricky, let alone banning the phones.

 

[jts]

I'm not one to care about Huawei's phones (though they DO look nicely designed!) but what about routers and stuff? My 4G router is Huawei. I was thinking to go with them when 5G hits as well, they seem to dominate that area.

 

[erpg]

I'm not one to care about Huawei's phones (though they DO look nicely designed!) but what about routers and stuff? My 4G router is Huawei. I was thinking to go with them when 5G hits as well, they seem to dominate that area.

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The CPC knows what kind of porn you watch.

 

[Deleted member 50969]

2019 may not be a great year for Hauwei.

 

[Keuja]

And off those Huawei is the only one actually making progress on 5G and outspend the others by a very big margin on R&D.
I think qualcomm also has a lot of IP in 5g but they are more in it for the IP licensing income if im not mistaken.

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And from what source do you get the idea that Huawei is the only one making progress in 5G?

 

[Dust]

Isn't Lewandowski the poster boy for Huawei?

 

[Deleted member 15428]

Isn't Lewandowski the poster boy for Huawei?

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Is he?

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Poland is lucky to be part of the EU. China can't get away with bullying Poland like they did Canada.

 

[Dust]

Is he?

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Seems so.

https://consumer.huawei.com/en/press/sponsorships/robert_lewandowski/

 

[SilentPanda]

And from what source do you get the idea that Huawei is the only one making progress in 5G?

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That seems to be what they are saying
https://www.techradar.com/news/huawei-boasts-of-22-5g-commercial-contracts

But it's similiar to the solar panel situation, they provide adequate equipment at a fraction of the cost of the competitor, so provider that want to expand will naturally buy their product instead of other.

But their close ties with the CCP is concerning and most fear of some sort of hardware or software backdoor, and since third party security researcher and other nation's security service haven't found any proof of backdoor, it either means that China's tech and coding or hardware backdoor is good enough that the western power can't find, or it doesn't exist, and their close ties with the CCP is being used to keep them out of market in the name of national security without evidence of tempering in the code or hardware.

 

[Gulfwarvet]

Good luck kicking hiawei base stations out the uk. Ee would be left with 3g only on nokia in every major town and city in the uk, vodafone would have half a network on the east of the uk only (this is ericsson sgared with o2) the west of uk is voda huawei shared with o2.

The core network is being replaced on ee not the base stations.

 

[Quinton]

I'm typing this up on my screen-shattered Huawei phone. I'm happy to report I'm switching to an iPhone tomorrow.

 

[00lsen]

Yeah, shit gets scary, I'm Polish and use a Huawei, so does my gf. On an international level, Poland is pretty much fucked, our politicians are still in the 80s and now we're caught in the crossfire between the US and China. Not to mention the 500-year old beef with Russia.

And wtf about these snarky comments the Chinese made like "there is nothing worth stealing in Poland" or that the arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada was caused by "Western egotism and white supremacy". Seems that they took a lesson from Vlad on how to build a positive image of your country and its soft power.

 

[S-Wind]

Yeah no one should allow an outside country to build their 5G infrastructure. Or in the Case of the US/Canada/UK we can all build each others. And Maybe add Australia since we all seem to get along for the most part but outside of that I think Soverign governments should promote their local companies to build vital infrastructure like that.

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This Canadian sure as fuck does not want the US to be able to spy on us - FUCK THAT!!!

 

[Deleted member 50193]

Couldn't see it reported in this thread but Huawei has fired the employee for bringing the company into "disrepute".

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/11/tech/poland-huawei-exec-arrest/index.html

 

[BigWinnie1]

This Canadian sure as fuck does not want the US to be able to spy on us - FUCK THAT!!!

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We already spy on you and mexico because you are our neighbors. That should be the most no brainer thing ever. countries right next to you are going to be spied on and either be your Ally and let it be passive or hostile and let it be active. Pretty sure it goes both ways.