Dear Editor,
What if all the lanes of the road were flooded? You wouldn’t be able to buy milk for breakfast or worse, in a medical emergency you may not be able to drive your child to the hospital. Now, that flood may affect your local region but your family in other parts of the country may still be able to go about their daily lives. But what if those services were to move online to the information superhighway, what then would be the impact of a similar online threat? It may likely affect the entire country and it may occur with a single click.
This fear has driven many of the international headlines that have featured Huawei in the last few days. One of its executives had recently been arrested in Canada and is now facing 30 years in prison in America for fraud, if tried and convicted. This matter has placed the spotlight on the company and many questions regarding privacy and security are now being raised. Many companies are in the process of replacing Huawei equipment or stating they will not use it in future communication network construction. These range from some of the biggest firms in the world such as British Telecom and Japan’s Softbank.
Countries have also expressed concerns about using Huawei equipment. This recent statement by the Japanese Prime Minister captures the concern. He said, “It’s extremely important to avoid buying equipment that includes malicious functions like stealing or destroying information or halting information systems.” That statement created enough worry for Softbank to state it will replace Huawei equipment. Japan is not the only country that has expressed concerns. America, Australia and New Zealand are other governments that have expressed concerns about Huawei.
On November 5th, 2017, Stabroek News reported that the Guyanese government entered into a contract with Huawei to provide services via the Internet. Guyana can benefit tremendously from the services that were pointed out by Minister of Public Communications, Cathy Hughes, in that article. She cited services related to health and passport application. The minister also reminded citizens about the US$32 million E-government network in coastal Guyana.
However, there is one service she mentioned which is concerning, the use of CCTV cameras. In the last few years, a new type of Artificial Intelligence technology, also known as Deep Learning, was developed that is now able to quickly spot an individual in a crowd. It has been reported that Huawei is developing surveillance and population control techniques in the Chinese region of Xinjiang using Deep Learning. Researchers have expressed concerns this technology will be used for authoritarian purposes. It is fine for Guyana to use and have control of CCTV video captured within its borders. But here is the problem: With Huawei equipment and Deep Learning technology in that CCTV camera system, would other nations be able to track people in real-time in Guyana without even the Guyanese government being aware?
The Chinese government has not taken kindly to Canada for the arrest of the Huawei executive on behalf of America. This has resulted in retaliatory action in China – two Canadians mysteriously disappearing there for days without the Canadian government being able to talk to them. This has caused Canadian ministers to publicly contemplate telling their citizens not to visit China. Rumblings are still coming from China about more serious consequences for Canada. Now, Canada is a much bigger and powerful country than Guyana. If China can threaten a country like Canada because it does not like its judicial process, what about Guyana? Instead of trying to find Guyanese in China to arrest, would they be capable of bringing Guyana to a halt with a click? How does the Guyana government guarantee Huawei is not spying or will use its equipment for malicious purposes on behalf of another nation?
Yours faithfully,
Darshanand Khusial
Master of Computer Engineering
