Hardware maker asks Texas court to undo banishment of IT gear from federal networks
Huawei is suing Uncle Sam to overturn a ban on its communications hardware from US federal government computer networks.
The Chinese networking gear manufacturer claims its banishment is unconstitutional because it was unfairly singled out without a fair trial, and wants the decision reversed.
Specifically, on Wednesday this week, Huawei, as expected, went to the federal district court of Eastern Texas to request a permanent injunction against the ban, and a declaratory judgment that the proscription flouted the Constitution.
The ban was authorized by Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act [PDF], passed by last August Congress, which effectively bars US government agencies and their contractors from purchasing or using telecommunications equipment built by Huawei or its Chinese rival ZTE.
The fear, on the American side, is that Huawei could be, or has been, ordered by its overlords in Beijing to backdoor its products so that the Middle Kingdom can secretly spy on the West from afar. Huawei denies this, though, we note it can be compelled by its communist masters to assist China’s spies in political and industrial espionage. Of course, Western nations also have their own laws that can force folks to cooperate with cops and g-men.
Huawei’s 54-page complaint can be found here [PDF].
