President Trump yesterday signed a defense funding bill that included a sweeping ban on the US government using technology supplied by Chinese telecommunications giants ZTE and Huawei. The bill also includes a narrower ban on using surveillance gear provided by Chinese companies Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, or Dahua Technology for national security applications.
The legislation directs federal agencies to stop using the Chinese-made hardware within two years. If that proves impractical, an agency can apply for a waiver to permit a longer phase-out period.
Obviously, being banned from selling to the US government is a significant blow to these companies. But overall the bill actually represents something of a reprieve for ZTE. Back in June, the US Senate passed a version of the bill that would have re-imposed an export ban that would have been a de facto death sentence for ZTE because ZTE is heavily dependent on components like Qualcomm chips and Google's Android operating system.
Previously: 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
The U.S. Intelligence Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical
Huawei CEO Still Committed to the U.S. Market
Rural Wireless Association Opposes U.S. Government Ban on Huawei and ZTE Equipment
ZTE Suspends Operations Due to U.S. Ban (UPDATED)
Related Stories
Verizon is following AT&T's lead and cancelling plans to sell Huawei's Mate 10 Pro smartphone that boasts support for the upcoming super-fast 5G network, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday.
Verizon's decision is reportedly based on political pressure from the US government, which is seeing a reinvigorated fear of spying from China as US regulators urged an investigation of Chinese-made telecom equipment in December 2017. It's the same reason AT&T dropped its deal with Huawei to offer the Mate 10 Pro on January 8.
Huawei's Mate 10 Pro with 5G networking capabilities seemingly falls under the category of Chinese-made telecom equipment under investigation, as the company has been accused of having ties with the Chinese government.
Previously: U.S. Lawmakers Urge AT&T to Cut Ties With Huawei
Related: U.S. Government Reportedly Wants to Build a 5G Network to Thwart Chinese Spying
Intelligence agency heads have warned against using Huawei and ZTE products and services:
The heads of six major US intelligence agencies have warned that American citizens shouldn't use products and services made by Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE. According to a report from CNBC, the intelligence chiefs made the recommendation during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday. The group included the heads of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the director of national intelligence.
During his testimony, FBI Director Chris Wray said the the government was "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." He added that this would provide "the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information. And it provides the capacity to conduct undetected espionage."
These warnings are nothing new. The US intelligence community has long been wary of Huawei, which was founded by a former engineer in China's People's Liberation Army and has been described by US politicians as "effectively an arm of the Chinese government." This caution led to a ban on Huawei bidding for US government contracts in 2014, and it's now causing problems for the company's push into consumer electronics.
Verizon and AT&T recently cancelled plans to sell Huawei's Mate 10 Pro smartphone.
Don't use a Huawei phone because it's too Chinese. Don't use an Apple phone because strong encryption is not "responsible encryption". Which phone is just right for the FBI?
Previously: U.S. Lawmakers Urge AT&T to Cut Ties With Huawei
Related: FBI Director Christopher Wray Keeps War on Encryption Alive
U.S. Government Reportedly Wants to Build a 5G Network to Thwart Chinese Spying
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
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?
Huawei's consumer business group CEO Richard Yu is not giving up on selling smartphones and other devices in the U.S., despite warnings against the company made by U.S. government officials and a lack of support from retailers. The company recently released a new flagship smartphone, the Huawei P20 Pro:
"We are committed to the US market and to earning the trust of US consumers by staying focused on delivering world-class products and innovation," Yu told CNET in an email. "We would never compromise that trust."
The comments mark a defiant response to the vague warnings made by US officials that have effectively crippled Huawei's ability to get its phones in front of consumers. In January, AT&T pulled out of a landmark plan to sell the Mate 10 Pro, an important high-end Huawei phone. Verizon reportedly also scuttled a deal to carry the device based on political pressure. CNET was also first to report that Best Buy, the US' largest electronics retailer, dropped Huawei phones from its roster.
[...] "The security risk concerns are based on groundless suspicions and are quite frankly unfair," Yu said. "We welcome an open and transparent discussion if it is based on facts." [...] "We work with 46 of the 50 global operators," Yu told CNET, "And have maintained a very strong security record because security is one of our top priorities." [...] "Even without the United States market, we'll be No. 1 in the world," Yu said earlier this week.
Huawei reported a 27% jump in profits in 2017, despite its struggle to establish itself in the U.S. market.
See also: Huawei P20 launch highlights the risks of U.S. paranoia over Chinese security
Huawei's P20 Pro is a hugely promising phone that will upset Americans
Previously: U.S. Lawmakers Urge AT&T to Cut Ties With Huawei
Verizon Cancels Plans to Sell Huawei Phone Due to U.S. Government Pressure
The U.S. Intelligence Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical
Banning Chinese network gear is a really bad idea, small ISPs tell FCC
The Federal Communications Commission's proposed ban on Huawei and ZTE gear in government-funded projects will hurt small Internet providers' efforts to deploy broadband, according to a lobby group for rural ISPs.
As previously reported, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal would prevent Universal Service Fund (USF) money from being used to buy equipment or services from companies that "pos[e] a national security risk." If the FCC approves the proposal, the ban is most likely to prevent the purchase of equipment from Chinese technology vendors Huawei and ZTE. But it could also affect other companies and technology from other countries, depending on how the FCC determines which companies pose national security threats.
ISPs who use federal money to build or expand broadband service would end up with fewer options for buying network gear. This would "irreparably damage broadband networks (and limit future deployment) in many rural and remote areas throughout the country," the Rural Wireless Association (RWA) told the FCC in a filing yesterday.
The RWA represents rural wireless Internet providers that offer home or mobile Internet service and have fewer than 100,000 subscribers. A recent Wall Street Journal report said that small ISPs rely on Huawei gear more than large telcos do.
Previously: U.S. Lawmakers Urge AT&T to Cut Ties With Huawei
U.S. Government Reportedly Wants to Build a 5G Network to Thwart Chinese Spying
U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
The U.S. Intelligence Community's Demonization of Huawei Remains Highly Hypocritical
Chinese Tech Giant on Brink of Collapse in New U.S. Cold War (archive)
Not Apple. Not Huawei. The first casualty of the high-tech cold war between the United States and China might be the biggest electronics maker you've never heard of.
The Chinese firm ZTE said on Wednesday [PDF] it had ceased "major operating activities" after the Trump administration banned the company last month from using components made in the United States. With manufacturing halted at the ZTE plant in Shenzhen, factory workers have been getting called in for training sessions every other day or so — a snooze, they say. The rest of the time, they loaf around in nearby dorms.
Trading in the company's shares has been suspended for weeks. Staff members have been instructed, in new guidelines reviewed by The New York Times, to reassure anxious clients, while being sure to avoid discussing with them the American technology from which the firm is cut off for the next seven years.
One of China's most internationally successful technology suppliers, with about $17 billion in annual revenue, ZTE is facing a death sentence. The Commerce Department has blocked its access to American-made components until 2025, saying the company failed to punish employees who violated trade controls against Iran and North Korea.
Update: President Trump has vowed to get ZTE "back into business, fast" (archive):
President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast. Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2018
Also at Fortune, WSJ, USAToday and CNN.
Previously: U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
Huawei CEO Still Committed to the U.S. Market
Rural Wireless Association Opposes U.S. Government Ban on Huawei and ZTE Equipment
ZTE Responds to U.S. Ban on Sales by American Companies to ZTE
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia's government on Thursday banned major Chinese telecoms firm Huawei Technologies from supplying equipment for its planned 5G mobile network, citing risks of foreign interference.
The 1000-word statement did not mention China, or the Chinese telecommunications equipment giants Huawei or ZTE. Nor did it plainly state the bombshell decision that they are to be banned from building Australia's new telecommunications network.
The fifth generation mobile telecoms system, or 5G, is a big deal. It's to be the key architecture of an increasingly wired nation, connecting power and water systems, medical and driverless technologies, systems in homes and hospitals, factories and farms, enabling the so-called "internet of things".
If you're getting the impression that the government didn't want to draw attention to the announcement, you're right. After months of careful scrutiny, the cabinet's national security committee had made the decision a week earlier. Then sat on it.
Huawei Arrest Tests China's Leaders as Fear and Anger Grip Elite
The arrest of one of China's leading tech executives by the Canadian police for extradition to the United States has unleashed a combustible torrent of outrage and alarm among affluent and influential Chinese, posing a delicate political test for President Xi Jinping and his grip on the loyalty of the nation's elite.
The outpouring of conflicting sentiments — some Chinese have demanded a boycott of American products while others have expressed anxiety about their investments in the United States — underscores the unusual, politically charged nature of the Trump administration's latest move to counter China's drive for technological superiority.
In a hearing on Friday in Vancouver, Canadian prosecutors said the executive, Meng Wanzhou of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, faced accusations of participating in a scheme to trick financial institutions into making transactions that violated United States sanctions against Iran.
Unlike a new round of tariffs or more tough rhetoric from American officials, the detention of Ms. Meng, the company's chief financial officer, appears to have driven home the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China in a visceral way for the Chinese establishment — and may force Mr. Xi to adopt a tougher stance against Washington, analysts said. In part, that is because Ms. Meng, 46, is so embedded in that establishment herself.
Previously: Canada Arrests Huawei's Global Chief Financial Officer in Vancouver
Related: New Law Bans U.S. Government from Buying Equipment from Chinese Telecom Giants ZTE and Huawei
Australia Bans China's Huawei (and maybe ZTE) from 5G Mobile Network Project
Washington Asks Allies to Drop Huawei
Michael Kovrig, former Canadian diplomat, reportedly arrested in China
A former Canadian diplomat has reportedly been arrested in China. The International Crisis Group said Tuesday it's aware of reports that its North East Asia senior adviser Michael Kovrig has been detained.
The Brussels-based non-governmental organization said in a statement it's doing everything possible to obtain additional information about Kovrig's whereabouts and that it will work to ensure his prompt release.
The Globe and Mail in Toronto and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported the arrest, citing unnamed sources.
Reports of Kovrig's detention come after China warned Canada of consequences for its recent arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at Vancouver's airport. It's unclear if there's any link between the cases.
Some Chinese companies ban iPhones, require Huawei after CFO's arrest: report
Some Chinese companies are banning iPhones and requiring that their employees use Huawei products following the arrest of Huawei's chief financial officer, according to a new Yahoo News report. Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, was arrested by Canadian authorities last Saturday at the request of the U.S. after allegedly violating trade sanctions against Iran. Chinese officials have strongly protested Meng's detention.
Despite U.S. Pressure, Germany Refuses To Exclude Huawei's 5G Technology
The Trump administration insists that Chinese firm Huawei, which makes 5G technology, could hand over data to the Chinese government. The U.S. has warned European allies, including Germany, Hungary and Poland, to ban Huawei from its 5G network or risk losing access to intelligence-sharing.
Germany has refused to ban any company, despite pressure from the U.S. Instead, Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated that her country would instead tighten security rules. "Our approach is not to simply exclude one company or one actor," she told a conference in Berlin on Tuesday, "but rather we have requirements of the competitors for this 5G technology."
Did The U.S. Just Lose Its War With Huawei?
"There are two things I don't believe in," Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday, referring to Germany's standoff with the United States over Huawei's inclusion in her country's 5G rollout. "First, to discuss these very sensitive security questions publicly, and, second, to exclude a company simply because it's from a certain country."
Europe now seems likely to settle on 'careful and considered' inclusion of Huawei instead of any blanket bans. Chancellor Merkel stressed this week that a joined-up EU response would be "desirable", and Italy and the U.K. are also backing away from Washington's prohibition on Huawei's 5G technology. If they fold, it is likely the broader European Union will follow suit. And if those key European allies can't be carried, what chance Asia-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East?
Huawei is 'open' to selling 5G chips to Apple for iPhones, marking a big shift in strategy
Huawei is "open" to selling high-speed 5G chips and other silicon to rival smartphone maker Apple, marking a significant shift in the Chinese tech giant's thinking toward its own intellectual property.
The world's largest networking equipment maker has been in the consumer market for a relatively short amount of time with its own-brand smartphones, but it has quickly risen to become the third-largest vendor by market share.
Huawei started by selling phones at low prices but in recent years has shifted focus to increase its market share in the high end of the market, battling Apple and Samsung. As part of that move, Huawei has developed its own chips, including a modem to give smartphones 5G connectivity, and a processor to power its devices. 5G is next-generation mobile internet, which delivers data at very high speeds.
So far, those pieces of technology have been used only in Huawei's devices. That could change. In an interview with CNBC that aired Monday, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said the company would consider selling its 5G chips to Apple. "We are open to Apple in this regard," Ren said. The CEO spoke in Mandarin, which was translated into English by an official translator.
Apple products (e.g. new iPhones) are likely to use 5G modems from Intel, although they won't be ready until 2020. Huawei has been shunned by U.S. companies due to warnings and pressure from the U.S. government claiming that Huawei products enable Chinese espionage. There has even been discussion of the U.S. government developing a 5G network free of Chinese influence. Given that there aren't many places in the country where you can get a "5G" connection yet, is there any point to this offer?
Related:
Intel Announces Development of 5G Modems (Due in 2019)
U.S. Intelligence Agency Heads Warn Against Using Huawei and ZTE Products
New Law Bans U.S. Government from Buying Equipment from Chinese Telecom Giants ZTE and Huawei
Australia Bans China's Huawei (and maybe ZTE) from 5G Mobile Network Project
Intel Speeds Up Rollout of 5G Modems
Washington Asks Allies to Drop Huawei
Australian Residents Reject Huawei Small Cell Boxes
Germany and the EU Likely to Embrace Huawei, Rebuff the U.S.
EU to Drop Threat of Huawei Ban but Wants 5G Risks Monitored
Huawei's Equipment Poses 'Significant' Security Risks, UK Says
Trump reversed course on Huawei. What happens now?
Six weeks after Huawei was blacklisted by the US government, President Donald Trump had what the Chinese telecom firm described as a "U-turn." Trump said Saturday that "US companies can sell their equipment to Huawei," allowing the transactions won't present a "great, national emergency problem."
Trump's comments at the G20 in Japan came after a widely anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping. The two sides met to discuss the impasse in the trade dispute, and Huawei, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in the world, has become a flash point in the battle.
In May, the US Commerce Department banned sales of American-made goods to Huawei without first obtaining a license. US officials have accused the company of working to undermine US national security and foreign policy interests. Trump said Huawei was still part of the ongoing trade discussions between Washington and Beijing, but for now, he would move to resume allowing US companies to sell parts to the Chinese firm.
Also at Android Authority and Business Insider:
President Trump has said US firms can continue selling to Huawei, apparently contradicting a Commerce Department trade blacklist on the Chinese tech firm.
See also: A China-U.S. Trade Truce Could Enshrine a Global Economic Shift
Previously: New Law Bans U.S. Government from Buying Equipment from Chinese Telecom Giants ZTE and Huawei
Huawei Working on its Own OS to Prepare for "Worst-Case Scenario" of Being Deprived of Android
Google Pulls Huawei's Android License
The Huawei Disaster Reveals Google's Iron Grip On Android
Huawei Calls on U.S. to Adjust its Approach to Tackle Cybersecurity Effectively
Google Doesn't Want Huawei Ban Because It Would Result in an Android Competitor
Huawei Soldiers on, Announces Nova 5 and Kirin 810
Related: U.S. Reaches Deal to Keep China's ZTE in Business: Congressional Aide
US Hits China's ZTE with $1 Billion Penalty
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @07:34PM (1 child)
Congress can basically only tell government what to do.
Of course, a lot of businesses (and especially Big Businesses) depend on those government agencies and must therefore also bow to the law, but the rest of the The People can thumb their noses at Congress and do business as they see fit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @03:26PM
i don't know what kind of suck ass modded this flamebait. the op was stating the reality of the situation.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @07:55PM (2 children)
The world has become an oroboros (or maybe a human centipede is a better analogy) of backdooring. We shouldn't be buying ZTE and Huawei anymore than the slopes should be buying Cisco.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Thursday August 16 2018, @02:58AM (1 child)
I'd much rather China spy on me than my own government. China has no legal/police power over me.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Thursday August 16 2018, @02:59AM
I should add, perhaps it isn't necessary, but I'd rather not be spied on at all. I just feel that if (when) it happens, I'd rather be spied on by irrelevant entities than ones that have power over me.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @08:08PM (11 children)
All their network infrastructure products (for the ISP and corporate markets) are free open source and been verified by multiple governments and corporations. Their main competitor - US owned Cisco - has a closed source proprietary OS and a history of NSA requested (and delivered) backdoors.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @08:16PM (3 children)
GTFO
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @09:08PM (1 child)
Back when Huawei cloud app was leaking positional data to their clouds in China, some guy posted a sniffer report of how the Chinese servers were seeing two dozen kilobyte per hour of GPS and wifi hotspots data while the American Google servers are seeing megabytes of everything from how many seconds you're looking through your gallery pictures and what kind of spelling errors you're making when chatting with your co-workers and family... Also worth noting how we had Samsung TVs leaking raw audio captures and no one even bothered mentioning anything about not putting those in boardrooms or command tends...
Suffice to say, Huawei is definitely being targeted over their refusal to backdoor. And no it's not a Trump thing. It's been going on since the Bush years and throughout the Obama administration as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @10:17AM
I think you mean refusal to give the Americanos a backdoor. I am sure they give their chinee masters all the backdoors they want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @03:30PM
it probably does, you stupid windows-using slave. these dumb ass politicians should be focused on buying the most open stuff, not who makes it. if both are closed, sure buy "american". if you have vile slaveware peddling whores like cisco and their competition's gear is open? fuck cisco.
(Score: 5, Informative) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 15 2018, @08:27PM (6 children)
Well, there's that, but also we've got a mental baby running a trade war with the vague intention of "winning" whose only card is just more and more escalation.
I'm not saying your thing is wrong, just there's another explanation where everyone and everything in 2018 is the dumbest, stupidest shit possible.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @10:01PM (3 children)
We have been in a trade war for a very long time, arguably since Nixon.
It is wrong to say that previous presidents weren't in a trade war. They were retreating and losing, failing to put up a fight, but that doesn't mean there was peace. That is just failure.
Your "escalation" is just basic self-defense. If we continue to have low tariffs while all the other countries do not, then they will pick our bones like vultures.
Obama said those factory jobs wouldn't come back. They are coming back. Obama mocked the idea that the USA could have 3% growth. We're well above that now.
I like winning. Why don't you like winning? Why do you hate America?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday August 15 2018, @11:29PM
Yep, here's why. People who view international trade as zero sum games where you win or lose. It's 2018 and everything is stupid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @09:25PM (1 child)
A tariff on foreign products to enable local production economical makes as much sense as breaking windows to create jobs for glassblowers. The fact growth is rising and unemployment is lowering isn't a positive thing when your exports aren't. It just means you're doing more work for less profits. And obviously it leads to reduced industrial production and inflation soon enough since demand and cash flow dies:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/industrial-production-mom [tradingeconomics.com]
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi [tradingeconomics.com]
This is where the spiral to the bottom really kicks in. Trump will try borrowing more money to infuse the system with cash or worse, print some. This pattern is so obvious to anyone with a lick of education it's ridiculous people actually think Obama wasn't right to oppose this and try to focus on higher efficiency innovative technologies instead. And lets not forget Germany did just what Obama tried and ended up fairing quite well for themselves...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 17 2018, @02:05AM
Um, you didn't hear about "quantitative easing" under Obama? That was what you claim Trump will do. It's already done, by Obama. He was printing money to infuse the system with cash.
It's cute to claim to "try to focus on higher efficiency innovative technologies". Everybody wants that. You can't force innovation. Innovation tends to happen near the factories though, which means China if we let them have the factories.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:55AM (1 child)
It's also a huge foot-shoot in terms of what video gear to USG will now end up with. Dahua and Hikvision are the world's largest manufacturers of surveillance camera gear, and they make some pretty decent kit. So what the decree is saying is that US agencies now have to buy from dubious third-party vendors instead of the major players with established track records.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday August 16 2018, @01:00AM
Sorry, forgot the hashtag for banning mainstream gear like Dahua and Hikvision: #MDubiousChineseManufactersGA!
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @09:54PM (5 children)
My coworker bought surveillance gear for his home. He didn't want Chinese gear, so he bought something from a Canadian company... or so he thought. Picking apart the web interface source he finds "Hikvision".
It's the same with lots of stuff. Dell makes printers... or do they? No, they don't.
The security situation here is a disaster. China can use all these devices to spy on American homes and businesses, blackmailing people and swiping trade secrets.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by crafoo on Wednesday August 15 2018, @09:56PM (3 children)
Well the Chinese can't throw me into prison without a trial or just come to my home and shoot me if I step out of line. I think I choose their backdoors over our domestic government's backdoors.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @10:08PM (2 children)
Suppose they reveal that they know some dark secret in your personal life. They offer to keep quiet about it... if you provide some help. You thus become a spy.
Think you don't have a dark secret? They can provide one! All they have to do is fill your computer with child porn and then tip off the FBI.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @11:20PM
That shows the problem with making possession of anything illegal: It's all too easy for governments to plant the illegal possession. This is especially true for data.
Also, this tactic could also be used by the US government; it certainly is not above it. I would still maintain that the US government is a much greater threat to US citizens than the Chinese government is.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 15 2018, @11:25PM
I'd say "Sir, yes Sir" because it is 100% FBI building yet another case.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @03:35PM
if you're using windows and/or don't have a real firewall, you deserve it. act like a slave, get treated like a slave.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday August 16 2018, @12:36AM
Great news! Thank god the American products are proudly made in the good ol US-of-A where they cant be tainted by the mean ol Chinamen!... Wait, whats that? My Cisco catalyst switch says made in China?
What the fuck America.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deimios on Thursday August 16 2018, @05:32AM
If they are banned by the US they must be doing something right. As an added bonus I predict I will be getting massive discounts on these products, same as when they banned Kaspersky.
Tradewars are fine and dandy, just don't forget that the bigger wallet wins and the US isn't the biggest kid on the economy bloc.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @09:35AM
I like this, and I think it should go further.
Looking forward to President Trump signing a bill banning the US government from buying any kind of technology at all from anywhere.