http://news.google.com.au/news?hl=en&ned=&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1281588099
So the basic just of it is just a word relation:
Optus (uses) -> Huawei (is based in) -> China (are) -> Commie (has shifty) -> Military/Spies
Also, Optus (SingTel) is based in Singapore, so they may as well be commie too.
Well it’s not that simple, and it has made the front page of The Australian newspaper (yes, I was too cheap to buy it, I just read the headline).
In the words of news.com.au:
concerns were raised about the company’s links to the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus, the report said.
Which seems to imply that any company that does anything for any military organisation or intelligence has magical spy chips embedded into every other non-intelligence product that they make.
Apart from the idea being completely absurd and technically infeasable, the mere idea of it is laughable. So that then begs the question, why would anyone kick up such a farce?
Here’s CryptWizard’s top 6 answers (without qualifications):
- It was a slow news day
- The media needed to take a break from the usual financial crisis/credit crisis/credit tsunami/economic recession/whatever news (that was kind of getting old)
- Journalists secretly love the “word relation” forum game
- Total lack of technical knowledge by journalists
- Someone really hates Optus or HuaWei (who could blame them, their service or products are crap)
- Telstra did it
Oh yeh, by the way, you were supposed to read that in the opposite direction to a usual “top x (where x is the number of items in the list)” list (in this case, 6 is the most likely). Just because I’m like that. =P
In other news, Nathan Rees (yeah, trust someone from Northmead High School with anything remotely mathematical or economical) announced that free student travel is back, most likely taking the action based on opinion polls or pressure from trade unions.