[roenxi]

Mmm. As an Australian, the main reason I'd be happy with using US telecom equipment would be the fact that Australia makes up 1/5th of the 5 eyes.

I'd expect our security people to have a very good idea of what backdoors are or are not present.

[lx3459683]

So US/AU government backdooring AU citizens is okay, but if China has access it's bad?

People actually think like this now? We just collectively rolled over and accepted mass surveillance?

[zby]

Even not looking on the democratic/dictatorship spectrum - outside interference will always be worse than what you get from insiders. Insiders at least depend on the country welfare - outsiders just don't give a fuck.

[close04]

And the US is an insider for AU... how? Because if the NSA brought any revelation it's that the US backdoored even their allies without them knowing.

I get choosing the least evil but this is a defense only as much as burning dows a building and saying "at least this little piece survived" is a defense.

[vermilingua]

Nope, FVEY was conducted very much with cooperation between the involved parties. We (Aus) have very close structural and cultural ties to the US, but China is approximately as foreign as it gets. The US may not be an insider per se, but in theory we share at least some core values.

(Not to say that I personally am ok with any of it, but from a societal perspective it makes a little sense.)

[BLKNSLVR]

But Australia's economic health relies far more on trade with China than it does with the US.

[BLKNSLVR]

I like the idea I've seen proposed elsewhere, that I'd rather be spied on by a government entity that's no allied with my government. Less chance of being black-bagged.

Luckily I'm an exceedingly boring person, so it won't happen either way, but it's still an interesting, and valid, point of view (pending ones travel plans).

[cs02rm0]

Maybe I have it wrong, but I'd prefer to have equipment from a rival of the 5 eyes.

If Huawei put a backdoor in the 5 eyes are incentivised to announce it and have it closed. If the 5 eyes want a backdoor in they're incentivised to not involve Huawei or their kit lest it be used against them.

A bit like sharing cake with my brother as a kid - one cuts, the other picks.

[close04]

That's exactly what I meant. Too much competition in the spying game means they'll all try to take each other out, or that people will start paying even more attention to security. Remove the competition and you can give the impression all is good and safe now.

[BLKNSLVR]

The UK is part of the 5-eyes and they've got Huawei gear deep in their critical infrastructure.

What I like is that the NSA actually hacked Huawei, and yet it's the Chinese company that we're fearful of being hacked by.