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Chinese Group Accuses IEEE of Wireless Encryption Conspiracy

7:30 am on May 30, 2006 | Category: Business, Wi-Fi, Wireless Technology

A group promoting Chinaâ€™s encryption standard for wireless networking has accused Americaâ€™s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of unfairly conspiring to get the Chinese specification rejected by the International Standards Organization.

The China Broadband Wireless IP Standard Group has now appealed the ISOâ€™s decision, claiming that the IEEE used “unethical activities,” to get its own 802.11i standard approved over Chinaâ€™s WAPI specification.

The activities allegedly include conspiracy, intimidation, threats, and misleading national agencies, although the Chinese agency wonâ€™t divulge any specifics.

ISO officials have promised to investigate the claims, as they would in any such instance, but itâ€™s difficult to imagine how exactly the allegations could be true. The 802.11i specification was chosen for the reason that it is the most widely used and accepted wireless encryption format. There is also the underlying reason that WAPI is a closed specification developed secretly by the Chinese government, and that the transparency required for global standardization simply isnâ€™t there.

It appears that Chinaâ€™s latest accusations probably wonâ€™t carry much weight with the international community, and that the countryâ€™s government-controlled standards group just doesnâ€™t want to go down without a fight.

Hopefully the ISO investigation will be able to put such allegations to rest for good, and show the Chinese group that blowing steam wonâ€™t make WAPI any more desirable to corporations and engineers around the world.

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