MWC 2023, a big connectivity event hosted by GSMA earlier this month in Barcelona, has come to a close. Some of the highlights of the event include the Xiaomi concept AR glasses, Honor foldable, Nokia repairable smartphone, and so much more.
However, it is not always good things at the MWC 2023. There are also bad things. Apparently, Huawei, one of the exhibitors at the event, is currently in hot water after reports circulated this week that the company installed tracking devices in the “Huawei Card” it handed to visitors. The organizers, GSMA, are already investigating this matter.
The controversial ‘Huawei pass’
Throughout MWC 2023, Huawei visitors had to bring with them a badge, known as a “Huawei pass,” when visiting the company’s exhibition. The pass consisted of a badge and lanyard, including a small plastic container of sorts. Visitors were instructed to return the pass upon leaving the OEM’s booth, but some forgot.
Those visitors who were not able to return the pass in the way instructed realized there was a fine print on the back of the badge, which claimed Huawei uses “RFID and Bluetooth technology to collect the swipe time of this Huawei Card at the entrance of Huawei exhibition area, real-time location information and the residence time information of this Huawei Card holder within Huawei exhibition area.”
The back of the badge further said, “Such information will be collected and processed only for the purpose of analyzing the overall interests of our invitees in our products to enhance our service quality. We will protect such information according to our Privacy Policy.”
If it sounds like the visitors were really being tracked, it is not only you who think indeed. But, a spokesperson of Huawei quipped about the allegation and said that “the Huawei pass is used only in the booth and returned when visitors get out.” Because of this, “there is no need to track location.”
Investigation ongoing
GSMA or GSM Association, the organizers, are interestingly not aware of the exact capabilities and purpose of the Huawei Pass. According to them, “the suggestion of tracking devices is a serious allegation.”
However, GSMA said they are already investigating the issue, but there are no details yet from them as of press time.
This alleged tracking of visitors is not the only criticism the Chinese multinational technology company has received. Previously, Huawei’s mobile hardware was already prohibited in several countries due to security concerns regarding backdoors.
