Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-11-18)

◼ TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek November 18, 2019

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improvedpublicsafetyalsoappearoverlyrosy.

Thereportdoesn’tcitethePakistandata,butin

Kenya,it says,crimehasn’tfallenasmuchasHuawei

saysonitswebsite.Thecompanyboastsa declineof

46%in 2015 fromthepreviousyearinKenyanareas

thatinstalleditsSafeCitysystems.Yetpolicestatis-

ticsinoneofthecities,Mombasa,showeda slight

increaseduring2015,andthedecreaseinNairobiwas

farlessthanthefigureHuaweiprovided,accordingto

thereport.Nairobialsosawanincreaseinreported

crimesin 2017 torateshigherthanbeforetheSafe

Cityprogrambegan,CSISsays.PoliceinNairobi

didn’trespondtoinquiries,anda spokesmanforthe

MinistryofInteriordeclinedtocomment.

Huawei’sclaims“aredifficulttoverifyandappear

grosslyexaggeratedinsomecases,”theCSISreport

says.“Whengovernmentsandcitizensgiveuppri-

vacyandmoneyforthesesystems,theyshould

insistonpublicmonitoringtotrackwhetherthey

arereceivingthesafetyandsecuritythey’rebeing

promised,”saysJonathanHillman,a CSISseniorfel-

lowandco-authorofthestudy.

Huaweisaidinanemailedstatementthatcom-

paringbefore-and-aftercrimestatisticscanbemis-

leadingbecause“theimplementationofanyofthe

data-processingcapabilitiesfromHuaweiwillexpo-

nentiallyincreasetheabilitytoanalyzecrimerates

andlawenforcementperformance.”Thecompany

alsosaidthatit reliesoninformationprovidedby

customersinitsmarketingmaterialsandthatany

discrepancyinthenumberofplacesthathave

installedHuaweiequipmentis theresultofcount-

ingequipmentthat’spartofother“tacticalproj-

ects,notfullSafeCityprojects.”(Eachnewphase

ofa projectis alsocountedasanadditionalproject.)

Almost60%oftheSafeCityprojectsarelocated

indevelopingcountriesinAsiaandAfrica,theCSIS

reportsays,warningaboutthecostsofinstallation

andmaintenanceforcountriesthatmaynotbeable

toaffordthem.“AfteradoptingHuawei’sequipment,

countriesmaybe‘locked-in’byhighreplacement

costs,”it says.

InPakistan,whilethetotalcostforalleightSafe

Cityprojectsisn’tknown,theexpenditureshave

comeata timewhenthecountryhasbeenstrug-

glingunderdebtincurredinpartbecauseofChina-

financedinfrastructureprojects,includingpower

plants,roads,andraillinksunderwhat’sknownas

the“BeltandRoad”initiative.Pakistanreceiveda

$6billionbailoutthisyearfromtheInternational

MonetaryFund,its13thsincethelate1980s.A report

lastyearbytheCenterforGlobalDevelopmentlisted

thecountryamongeightnationsthatfacepotential

debt-sustainability problems because of Belt and Road

spending. Pakistan also owes China more than twice

asmuchasit owestheIMFoverthenextthreeyears.

InLahore,thecapitalof Punjabprovince,8,000cam-

eras were installed in 2016 as part of a Safe City project,

but total crime in Punjab rose 6.5% that year, stayed

roughly the same in 2017, and inched up 1.3% in 2018,

according to police data. (The police didn’t break out

data for Lahore alone.) In Islamabad, a police official

heading the Emergency Command Center told a vis-

iting Chinese delegation in March that there was a

sharp decline in thefts, terrorism, and robberies in

the city soon after the center’s inauguration in mid-

2016. Official statistics show a decline in robberies,
      burglaries, and thefts of 6.7% in the city for all of 2016
      followed by smaller declines, yet a 24% surge in 2018
      from the 2015 levels. Murders and attempted mur-
      ders were also up 11% in 2018 from 2015. Murders,
      burglaries, and robberies were all down in the first
      eight months of this year.
      “It seems only natural to question Huawei’s claims
      in the same way we’d question other products on the
      market,” says Hillman of CSIS. “The burden of proof
      falls as much, or more, to governments, which are
      responsible for oversight and should be asking these
      questions and checking promises against actual per-
      formance.”�SheridanPrasso

THE BOTTOM LINE Huawei’s surveillance networks appear to

be failing to slow the rise of violent crime rates, in contrast to the

company’s rosy assessment.

WeWork first learned there might be something

wrong with its phone booths this summer, when

UBS Group AG complained about a smell. The invest-

ment bank was the biggest customer of WeWork’s

corporate interior design business, which outfit-

ted UBS’s spaces with trendy furniture, curtains of

plants, and juice bars. The phone booths, which

offered privacy in the open-plan design, were a

point of pride, because they were fully designed by

WeWork in-house.

To manufacture the tall, sound-insulated booths,

which sport rectangular windows and folding doors,

● The company’s manufacturer, a former Starbucks contractor,

used dangerous amounts of a cancer-causing chemical

Inside WeWork’s

Toxic Phone Booths