GOOGLE WANTS TO WORK WITH HUAWEI

Google is reportedly pushing the Trump administration to allow the company to be exempt from a ban on working with Huawei technology, citing security risks it says the ban creates for U.S. consumers.

The Financial Times reported Friday that Google executives are hoping to secure an exemption from the Trump administration’s recent ruling banning U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei in order to partner with the Chinese firm on developing software for Android phones, which Huawei sells in the U.S.

According to FT, some Google executives believe that Huawei will develop its own Android software without consultation from Google if the ban remains in place, thereby leading to the development of software with security flaws and other bugs.

“Google has been arguing that by stopping it from dealing with Huawei, the US risks creating two kinds of Android operating system: the genuine version and a hybrid one. The hybrid one is likely to have more bugs in it than the Google one, and so could put Huawei phones more at risk of being hacked, not least by China,” one person involved in the negotiations told FT.