Huawei suspected of tracking visitors via security badges at MWC 2023
Chinese tech giant Huawei has been accused of tracking visitors who visited its booth at the global tech event, MWC 2023, held in Barcelona. According to Tech Times, some visitors who were not able to return their security badges to Huawei opened up the small plastic container attached to the lanyard and found something suspicious. Visitors found a small plastic container on their lanyard that contains an electronic chip. Among those visitors is Nokia Europe Senior Vice President Rold Werner who believed that this could be used as a location tracker.
Huawei does mention on the back of the badge the use of radio frequency (RFID) and Bluetooth technology. It says, “We use RFID and Bluetooth technology to collect the swipe time of this Huawei Card at the entrance of Huawei exhibition area, real-time location information, and the residence time information of [these] Huawei Card holders within Huawei exhibition area…”
The disclaimer adds, “…such information will be collected and processed only for the purpose of analyzing the overall interests of our invitees in our products to enhance our service quality. We will protect such information according to our Privacy Policy.” A Huawei spokesperson said, “The Huawei pass is used only in the booth and returned when visitors get out. There is no need to track location.”
A spokesperson from the tech giant said that this security pass from Huawei is only used in the booth and returned when visitors get out.
Meanwhile, the GSM Association (GSMA) which organizes the MWC shows commented, “Of course, you will be aware that some vendors do require booth visitors to remove competitor lanyards and branding for obvious reasons but the suggestion of tracking devices is a serious allegation. We are investigating that but don’t have details to share at this moment.”
To recall, the US three years ago pushed European allies like Britain and Sweden to ban or restrict Huawei equipment in their phone networks over fears Beijing could use it for cybersnooping or sabotaging critical communications infrastructure — allegations Huawei has denied repeatedly. Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have taken similar action.
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