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The U.S. Intel Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical
We've noted for some time how Chinese hardware vendor Huawei has been consistently accused of spying on American citizens without any substantive, public evidence. You might recall that these accusations flared up several years ago, resulting in numerous investigations that culminated in no hard evidence whatsoever to support the allegations. We're not talking about superficial inquiries, we're talking about eighteen months, in-depth reviews by people with every interest in exposing them. One anonymous insider put it this way in the wake of the last bout of hysteria surrounding the company:
We knew certain parts of government really wanted" evidence of active spying, said one of the people, who requested anonymity. "We would have found it if it were there.
[...] This week, hysteria concerning Huawei again reached a fevered pitch, as U.S. intelligence chiefs, testifying before Congress over Russian hacking and disinformation concerns, again proclaimed that Huawei was spying on American citizens and their products most assuredly should not be used:
At the hearing, FBI Director Chris Wray testified, "We're deeply concerned about the risks of allowing any company or entity that is beholden to foreign governments that don't share our values to gain positions of power inside our telecommunications networks." Purchasing Huawei or ZTE products, Wray added, "provides the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage.
Which values would those be, exactly? Would it be the values, as leaked Edward Snowden docs revealed, that resulted in the NSA hacking into Huawei, stealing source code, then attempting to plant its own backdoors into Huawei products? Or perhaps it's the values inherent in working closely with companies like AT&T to hoover up every shred of data that touches the AT&T network and share it with the intelligence community? Perhaps it's the values inherent in trying to demonize encryption, by proxy weakening security for everyone?
Previously: NSA Spied on Chinese Government and Huawei
U.S. Lawmakers Urge AT&T to Cut Ties With Huawei
Verizon Cancels Plans to Sell Huawei Phone Due to U.S. Government Pressure
U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:57PM (17 children)
Just as soon as you produce fully documented schematics and source for all drivers for apple's iphones or any other major brand of cellphone. If you can't, does that mean they all have backdoors in the hardware or firmware? Sheesh, go put your tinfoil hat back on.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 21 2018, @11:16PM (14 children)
I don't know how many backdoors they have or if they have them, but I won't use them purely because their products are proprietary, infested with digital restrictions management, and locked-down. Whether or not they abuse their powers is inconsequential; they are denying users their freedoms, and that's bad enough.
But yes, it's entirely possible for backdoors to be hiding in such an environment, and you don't even have the freedom to look for them in the code. Corporations and governments have abused their powers time and time again, so there is no reason to trust them at all.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday February 21 2018, @11:42PM (9 children)
-s?
There are millions of apps in both stores. Both Android and iOS are chock full of proprietary badness.
I use the Facebook App to keep in touch with my friends and relatives. I expect that's why most of Facebook's users use Facebook.
Source code wouldn't be a whole lot of good for the typical smartphone user.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:12AM (1 child)
In communist <everywhere>, Facebook app uses you.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday February 22 2018, @02:15AM
Lots of sites try to track me but I slay them all with my superior Code Fu.
I don't list my favorite books or movies at Facebook. That there even is a UI for listing them makes it plainly apparent that the lists are used for profiling.
However I recently decided to list some of both, but the profile they make will be that of a fictional person. That is, I won't list anything that really is my favorite.
Also do I need to repeat myself?
127.0.0.1 ssl.google-analytics.com
I at one time had dozens of such entries in my hosts file, but that was on some other computer that's not convenient for me to monkey around with.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:52AM (5 children)
The fact that you can earn money doing evil doesn't make it ethical.
Yes, and they're both bad. What's your point? You even seem to admit that it's a bad thing by using the word "badness". So is there even a disagreement here?
Then you tacitly support a monstrous surveillance engine, making you part of the problem. You are a Facebook used (yes, "used").
It's not just about the typical smartphone user; it's about freedom. Some users might want to pay others to make changes to certain software. Some users might want to implement the changes themselves. Some users might simply want to sit back and wait for others to make desirable changes. There are countless ways to benefit from freedom, and just having the freedom to do these things is a good thing.
Proprietary software necessarily comes into conflict with independence, education, and freedom. If you value those concepts, then you should be opposed to proprietary software on some level.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday February 22 2018, @04:46AM
But am opposed to open source
I read the gnu manifesto well before Eric Raymond figured out how not to soil his diapers
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday February 22 2018, @07:47AM (3 children)
I like the term. What's its plural, tho, "useders" maybe?
What about the collective noun: herd, flock or mob?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @08:43AM (2 children)
> I like the term. What's its plural, tho, "useders" maybe?
"Useds".
> What about the collective noun: herd, flock or mob?
Hive, if you want to emphasize the "group mind" aspect. "A hive of Facebook useds isolated in their filter bubbles."
Swarm, if you want to emphasize the sheer numbers and mindless outrage. "The business' good name was demolished by a swarm of Twitter useds."
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday February 22 2018, @08:56AM (1 child)
> Hive, if you want to emphasize the "group mind" aspect.
There's no mind in the group
> Swarm, if you want to emphasize the sheer numbers and mindless outrage.
What if there's no outrage?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @11:35AM
>> Hive, if you want to emphasize the "group mind" aspect.
> There's no mind in the group
That's why I put it in scare quotes.
>> Swarm, if you want to emphasize the sheer numbers and mindless outrage.
>What if there's no outrage?
My bad. s/and/and\/or/
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday February 22 2018, @08:12PM
Not directly, but by being available, it will possibly get examined by someone somewhere who will blow the whistle on any badness there. THEN the typical user benefits from the source having been available.
Kinda like my Mom's car being easy to service doesn't help Mom directly, but it does mean I can go over and take care of it for her rather than resorting to a shop with specialized tools.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:29AM (3 children)
I'm not too worried about backdoors but I still use Lineage OS without google apps. No google calendar, no google contacts, no google maps. Was a bitch to switch away from google but I found all the (free and open) apps I needed and I feel better about it.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:35AM (2 children)
Shame you can't stop your carrier or the manufacturer from slurping your data.
Proprietry blobs everywhere!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @02:59AM (1 child)
I don't think the phone manufacturer can wriggle around Lineage OS even if they control the baseband CPU. Maybe. The carrier only has access to non-SSL traffic, so no biggie. Of course carrier gets to see any text msgs and gets to see phone calls. I'm not sure if they choose to snoop on actual phone voice traffic. All and all much better than letting google run roughshod over my private parts. "Private parts", heheheh!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday February 22 2018, @04:50AM
I'm curious as to what advertising I will see when they all think I live in Holland
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday February 21 2018, @11:40PM
It certainly means they're defective by design and you have no reason to assume that doesn't include backdoors, among other misfeatures, yes, absolutely.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @06:36PM
Given the state of the US with secret warrants/evidence/courts/gag letters I will gladly keep my EMF blocking cranial-ware in place! At this point I think we need to start demanding proof of good faith, we already have a metric shit ton of generally bad track records.