◼TECHNOLOGY BloombergBusinessweek June 10, 2019Huawei Mobilizes
Its Troops
and cities to sue violators, a right restricted to
the state attorney general in most cases under the
CCPA. The Assembly’s privacy committee never
brought it up for a hearing.
Privacy advocates say the law will probably be
significantly weakened by the time it takes effect
nextyear.Theirmostpressingconcernis legisla-
tionthatwouldnarrowthedefinitionofpersonal
information,creatinglargercategoriesofdatathat
wouldn’tbeheldtostringentstandards.“Thetech-
nologyindustryhasprivatizedtheprivacycommit-
tee,”saysChrisConley,a lawyerwiththeACLUof
NorthernCalifornia.
DespiteSiliconValleyworriesaboutotherstates
followingCalifornia’slead,noothershavepassed
lawsadoptinga similarprivacyframework.Whilemomentum for antitrust investigations is on the rise,
privacy legislation hasn’t moved beyond the concep-
tual stages. The time to advance a federal bill before
the 2020 presidential election is running short,
according to experts who follow the issue. Privacy
advocates lament that the momentum they expected
fromtheCalifornialawhasalreadyreceded.
For her part, Wicks saysshe’s considering
reintroducing her original proposal, or some
new form of it, in January. “We’re going to fig-
ure out what my privacy bill is for next year,” she
says. “Obviously what I had wasn’t catching fire.”
�JoshuaBrusteinStepthroughthegatesofHuaweiTechnologiesCo.’s
sprawlingcampusinsouthernChina,andyou’llsee
a workforceinfreneticmotion.Neon-greenmini-
vansferryworkersbetweenofficesaroundthe
clock.Fluorescentlightsburnthroughthenight.
Employeecanteensareopenuntilnearmidnight.
China’slargesttechnologycompanyhasthrived
onwhatsomeemployeesandoutsiderscallits
“wolfculture.”Thetake-no-prisonersapproachis
amplifiednowthatHuaweiis atwarwithPresident
Trump,fightingbackagainsthiseffortstocutoff
itsmarketsandcustomersanddepriveit ofcriti-
caltechnology.OnMay17,theU.S.Departmentof
CommerceaddedHuaweitoa blacklistofcompa-
niesthatblocksit frombuyingAmericansoftware
andcomponentsit needstomakeitsproducts.
Huaweihasassignedasmanyas10,000of its
developers to work across three shifts a day in
offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Xi’an to try to
eliminate the need for American software and cir-
cuitry, according to people familiar with the mat-
ter. From janitors to drivers, everyone has been
drafted into the struggle and told to brace forescalatingpolitical and market pressure. Huawei
has declined to comment beyond saying it’s had con-
tingency plans in place for just such an occasion.
Developers in some groups haven’t gone home
for several days, one person says, asking notto
beidentifiedwhendiscussinginternalmatters.
EngineersarereducingAmericanpartsinbase-
station antennas, made by U.S. companies such as
Rogers Corp. Huawei also is tweaking the design of
entire 4G base stations, the person adds, which com-
pete toe-to-toe with products from Ericsson AB and
Nokia Corp.
“It’s not a question about if we can win—we
have to win,” says a Huawei engineer, the head of
a small research and development team responsi-
ble for communication chips who requested ano-
nymity because employees have been warned not
to speak to the press. “This is a war about China
having an independent communications technol-
ogy industry.” On an online employee forum, the
following message was posted: “Warriors in golden
armor shall never return home until they defeat
Trump from America.”24
THE BOTTOM LINE California is ground zero for the fight over
how to regulate Big Tech. A recent effort to enact a strong privacy
law illustrates just how formidable the opposition still is.● China’s biggest tech company is preparing for a long, drawn-out fight as American supply dries up