{"id":334349,"date":"2025-12-08T06:53:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T06:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/5g-technology\/huawei-staffer-obscured-credentials-to-access-global-wi-fi-body-politico\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T06:53:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T06:53:22","slug":"huawei-staffer-obscured-credentials-to-access-global-wi-fi-body-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=334349","title":{"rendered":"Huawei staffer obscured credentials to access global Wi-Fi body \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u2018Not a research engineer\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the email, sent Nov. 10,\u00a0Woodard\u00a0said a superior had told him to leave working group 802.11, which\u00a0decides\u00a0on standards\u00a0used by Wi-Fi technology to connect to the internet.\u00a0The email was published on\u00a0the\u00a0IEEE\u2019s website\u00a0as\u00a0customary for exchanges between members, but\u00a0was later removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy new director … is putting a stop to my participation in 802.11,\u201d Woodard wrote to Au. \u201cShe believes the risk is too great for exposure that Huawei is putting patent counsel … into 802 and trying to give\u00a0him\u00a0voting rights and direct ability to make comments on draft text,\u201d he wrote, adding: \u201cI\u2019m neither a lawyer nor a registered agent,\u00a0just in the job function of one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe optics\u201d of Woodard’s being involved in the work “is that I have no way of contributing technically since I am not a research engineer,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy only\u00a0possible agenda\u00a0is to get draft text\u00a0to align\u00a0with our [intellectual property rights] by \u2018stuffing their ballot box.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Patent holders like Huawei and its close competitors Nokia, Ericsson and Qualcomm have an interest in steering IEEE votes\u00a0so their proprietary technology\u00a0is\u00a0included in the standards. | Ritchie B. Tongo\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The standards organization’s working groups make decisions based on the votes of individual members, according to its rules<\/a>. Members get voting\u00a0rights\u00a0by taking part in a certain number of\u00a0plenary sessions\u00a0where\u00a0the voting takes place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Huawei employee was yet to gain full voter status and was labeled as an \u201caspirant\u201d in an earlier version of an\u00a0online list<\/a>,\u00a0which was updated to\u00a0delete\u00a0his name on Nov. 25, shortly after POLITICO asked the IEEE for comment. In his email he referred to a plenary session in Madrid that he took part in earlier this year.<\/p>\n

A LinkedIn profile listed as Andrew W.<\/a> suggests\u00a0Woodard has been a \u201cpatent portfolio manager for Wi-Fi and Photonics\u201d at\u00a0Huawei\u00a0in Canada since 2019.\u00a0The profile links to\u00a0the IEEE’s 802.11 group and says\u00a0the person\u00a0has an \u201cemphasis on monetization of standard essential patents,\u201d or SEPs \u2014 the patents that all companies need to have to be able to connect to the internet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n