Huawei is not obliged to open ‘back doors’ for China, chair says

Huawei Technologies Co. would deny any Chinese government request to open up "back doors" in foreign telecommunications networks because they aren't legally obliged to do so, the company's chairman says. Liang Hua, speaking to reporters in Toronto on Thursday, said the company had received an independent legal opinion about its obligations under Chinese law and said there is nothing forcing companies to create what he called "back doors" in networks. He said they'd never received any such request, but would refuse it if they did. At this point, it seems silly to assume such backdoors do not already exist in one form or another - if not at the device level, then at the network level. This isn't merely a Chinese thing either; western governments are doing the same thing, draped in a democratic, legal veneer through secret FISA-like courts and similar constructions.