Hacker News Reader

Comment by petcat | Hacker News Reader

It has nothing to do with the current administration. The Secure Equipment Act was passed in 2021 and signed into law by Joe Biden.

> This law requires the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue rules stating that it will no longer review or approve any authorization application for equipment that poses an unacceptable risk to national security.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Equipment_Act

View on HN

That act does not require the FCC to issue any blanket ruling like this. And the "unaccceptable risk" provision is legally dubious at best.

That's not entirely true.

The Secure Equipment Act itself was passed in 2021, but the law itself doesn't proscribe any particular equipment or manufacturers. Instead, tells the FCC to create a list and delegates listing duties to various parts of the executive branch (national security agencies, Commerce, the Federal Acquisition Security Council). That's what changed yesterday and it was in fact done by the current administration.

The Biden administration declared ZTE, Huawei and a few other small Chinese companies as supply chain risks and prohibited importing their hardware --- the Trump administration just declared every single router made overseas as a risk. If you can't tell the difference between those two things...

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-420034A1.pdf

That says "telecommunications equipment" and it sounds like its talking about network equipment. The page you link to does not mention any developments since 2022 so what has changed this month?

There is quite a stretch from “unacceptable risk to national security” to “absolutely any foreign-made equipment”. And that stretch has everything to do with the current administration.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com