The UK has decided to let Huawei aid in the creation of high speed 5G internet services. The decision made yesterday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson raises tensions between the UK and the Trump administration.
We asked a range of people for their thoughts on whether Huawei poses a threat, as the US seems to think. Ironically, many seemed scared of saying if Huawei is something to be scared of. A number of people were wary of showing their faces or saying their names, reflecting the growing sense that China is a surveillance state coming to a CCTV near you.
Huawei is widely seen as a potential threat because it could be called on to spy on us by the Chinese government. But who’s spying on us already? Western based companies such as Facebook, EA and Google, amongst many others, already collect data on everyone who uses their services.
As far back as 2013 whistleblower Edward Snowden outed the USA’s National Security Agency for spying on civilians.
In a world so connected it’s hard to see who the real bad guy is. So if you really want to be safe from the prying eyes of others, you’ll have to get off the grid and run for the hills.
