https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-terrifying-potential-of-the-5g-network
> The Terrifying Potential of the 5G Network > > The future of wireless technology holds the promise of total connectivity. > But it will also be especially susceptible to cyberattacks and surveillance. ... > 5G—if you believe the hype—is expected to be up to a hundred times faster. (A > two-hour movie could be downloaded in less than four seconds.) ... > Huawei, a Chinese manufacturer of consumer electronics and telecommunications > equipment, is currently the global leader in 5G technology. Founded in the > eighties by Ren Zhegfei, an engineer who began his career in the People’s > Liberation Army, Huawei has been accused by cybersecurity experts and > politicians, most notably Donald Trump, of being a conduit to Chinese > intelligence. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, the Republican senators Tom > Cotton, of Arkansas, and John Cornyn, of Texas, characterized the company, > which is funded with subsidies from the Chinese government, as a Trojan horse > that could “give China effective control of the digital commanding heights.” > They tell the story of the African Union, which installed Huawei servers in > its headquarters, in Addis Ababa, only to discover that those servers had > been sending sensitive data back to China every evening. Although Huawei > vigorously denies that it is an agent of the Chinese government, the senators > pointed out, the company is subject to a Chinese law that requires companies > to coöperate with the state intelligence apparatus. ... > This past January, Tom Wheeler, who was the F.C.C. chairman during the Obama > Administration, published an Op-Ed in the New York Times titled “If 5G Is So > Important, Why Isn’t It Secure?” The Trump Administration had walked away > from security efforts begun during Wheeler’s tenure at the F.C.C.; most > notably, in recent negotiations over international standards, the U.S. > eliminated a requirement that the technical specifications of 5G include > cyber defense. “For the first time in history,” Wheeler wrote, “cybersecurity > was being required as a forethought in the design of a new network > standard—until the Trump F.C.C. repealed it.” The agency also rejected the > notion that companies building and running American digital networks were > responsible for overseeing their security. This might have been expected, but > the current F.C.C. does not consider cybersecurity to be a part of its > domain, either. “I certainly did when we were in office,” Wheeler told me. > “But the Republicans who were on the commission at that point in time, and > are still there, one being the chairman, opposed those activities as being > overly regulatory.” .. > To accommodate these limitations, 5G cellular relays will have to be > installed inside buildings and on every city block, at least. Cell relays > mounted on thirteen million utility poles, for example, will deliver 5G > speeds to just over half of the American population, and cost around four > hundred billion dollars to install. Rural communities will be out of luck—too > many trees, too few people ... > Deploying millions of wireless relays so close to each other and, therefore, > to our bodies has elicited its own concerns. Two years ago, a hundred and > eighty scientists and doctors from thirty-six countries appealed to the > European Union for a moratorium on 5G adoption until the effects of the > expected increase in low-level radiation were studied. ... > A system built on millions of cell relays, antennas, and sensors also offers > previously unthinkable surveillance potential. Telecom companies already sell > location data to marketers, and law enforcement has used similar data to > track protesters. 5G will catalogue exactly where someone has come from, > where they are going, and what they are doing. -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
