Today’s cache | New revelations on Huawei’s Iran link, and more

Today's cache is your daily download of the top 5 updates from the world of technology.

June 04, 2020 07:18 am | Updated 07:25 am IST

FILE PHOTO: A Huawei company logo is pictured at the Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: A Huawei company logo is pictured at the Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

New revelations on Huawei’s business relationship with Skycom could undermine the Chinese phone maker’s claim that it was just a business partner. This could further strengthen US’ case against Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou.

In another blow to Huawei, Bell Canada has roped in Ericsson to supply 5G gear for its network, ditching the Chinese phone maker.

Google faces a potential lawsuit that claims that the search giant violated Federal Wiretap Act.

Tencent has signed a two-year deal with Motorsport Stats to cover stats and results feed.

Lastly, an Indian-made app that helped users identify apps made by China has been removed from Google’s Play Store.

Bell Canada picks Ericsson to supply 5G gear

Canada’s largest telecommunication provider on Tuesday said Ericsson will supply 5G equipment for the company’s national 5G wireless network.

As part of the deal, Ericsson will provide radio access network (RAN) gear to Bell to supply high-speed wireless home internet to rural Canada.

Ericsson has to date signed 92 commercial 5G agreements with telecom providers worldwide, and it is one of the first few companies to enable commercial 5G networks on 4 continents.

The company has been supplying 4G LTE wireless technology to Bell prior to this deal.

"Bell's 5G strategy supports our goal to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world, and Ericsson's innovative 5G network products and experience on the global stage will be key to our rollout of this game-changing mobile technology across Canada," Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of BCE Inc. and Bell Canada said in statement.

Bell is poised to launch 5G as the Canadian economy opens up. Apart from Ericsson, the telecom company is working with multiple other equipment suppliers for its 5G rollout.

The company plans to expand 5G coverage as additional wireless spectrum becomes available.

The fifth generation wireless technology has the capacity to enable 4K video viewing, immersive augmented reality, connected vehicles and industry 4.0 technologies at scale.

Tencent and Motorsport Network sign a two-year deal

Motorsport Network announced on Tuesday it has a deal with Tencent to cover stats and results feed.

The deal will provide Tencent Sports users access to Motorsport Stats’ datasets across website, apps, social media and TV graphics.

The two-year agreement includes the current season, historical results and additional data for 11 different series.

Motorsport Stats is the official stats supplier to motorsport ruling body FIA. The company provides data to team owners, teams, sponsors and the media via website feeds and data-powered products, including automated social media publishing tools and data analytics via API services.

During every season, Motorsport Stats’ team of analysts capture and analyse a rich stream of data and results from over 50 events each weekend across multiple time zones.

The deal will provide Chinese racing enthusiasts with a more comprehensive data service.

“Through the cooperation with Motorsport Stats, Tencent Sports will provide Chinese fans with deeper and comprehensive high-quality content services and fully demonstrate the charm of motor sports,” Ewell Zhao, general manager at Tencent Sports, said.

Google removes an Indian app from Play Store

A recent viral Indian app has been taken down from Google’s Play Store as it violated the search company’s deceptive behaviour policy, Gadgets360 reported.

The Remove China App, developed by Jaipur-based OneTouch AppLabs, was designed to help users identify apps that have a Chinese origin. The app became viral after the India-China border issue.

The app was removed by Google for violating its Deceptive Behaviour policy. Among the various reason cited under the policy, one stands out in particular for this app.

Google’s policy doesn’t allow apps that mislead users into removing other apps on its platform.

Within 10 days of its launch, the app has crossed over a million downloads. Though the app claims that it was built for ‘educational purposes’, it has used the anti-China sentiment prevalent across the country to its advantage.

A lawsuit against Google

Google has tracked and collected Chrome user’s browsing history, despite using incognito browsing mode, a class-action suit claimed, the New York Times reported.

The case filed in a US District Court claims the search giant violated wiretap laws by collecting information from the users even after they took efforts to browse using private browsing mode.

According to the lawsuit, Google uses other tracking tools to know what users are browsing even after they chose to browse in private.

“Google tracks and collects consumer browsing history and other web activity data no matter what safeguards consumers undertake to protect their data privacy,” the complaint said.

This is the first time Google is facing a lawsuit, which is seeking to use the Federal Wiretap Act. According to the Act, a consumer can sue if their private conversation has been intercepted.

In this case, the lawsuit claims, Google has intercepted the communication between the users and websites by collecting browsing history.

“We strongly dispute these claims, and we will defend ourselves vigorously against them,” a Google spokesman, Jose Castaneda, said. “Incognito mode in Chrome gives you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device. As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity during your session.”

Huawei tried to hide its business in Iran

Huawei technologies tried to hide its business relationship with Skycom Tech Ltd, the firm that attempted to sell banned US tech equipment to Iran, according to newly obtained internal Huawei documents, Reuters reported.

The documents show how Huawei, in early 2013, tried to distance itself from Skycom over trade sanctions imposed on Tehran.

The Chinese phone maker changed managers at Skycom, shut down the office in Tehran and formed another business to take over millions of dollars worth of Skycom contracts, to show that Huawei had no connection with Skycom, the documents show.

These new revelations could further bolster US authorities’ case against Huawei and its CFO Meng Wanzhou. Since she was arrested in December 2018, the US has been trying to extradite Meng from Canada.

US alleges that Meng and Huawei were part of a fraudulent scheme to get banned US goods and technology for the company’s operation in Iran via Skycom.

The new documents clearly back US’ allegations against Huawei and Meng.

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