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AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

cnbc.com

171–180 of 289 posts

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#171
post #167

If Bloomberg ends up retracting the story, then the new question, for me, is how did this happen? Was it simply Bloomberg trying to get views? Or is it more interesting, like did their "sources" intentionally give them a fake story in order to hurt their credibility? Or was it to cast doubt on the anti-China stories in general?

I can’t help resist the thought: this was planted for political purposes. 1. If people buy the narrative, it works as anti-China talking points and we continue to villanize China and look for US to step up manufacturing of tech. 2. If it blows up and backfires, we get to villanize journalism as a profession and push for government takeover of media to ensure honest and integrity above profit (eg fakenews). By planted…

Agree on 2. If only someone in the US administration really hated what he calls "Fake News" by established media and "Made-up anonymous sources".

"Won't anybody think of the poor economy! These unfounded stories are doing direct damage. Disclose your sources to the government or lose your Real News License."

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#172
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bloomberg claims that there is evidence floating around - unless they're bluffing, they should be able to show evidence of at least one such motherboard, instead of CGI graphics showing how it might look. Have they seen any actual hard evidence? Noone is disputing that the described attack vector is possible, but if Bloomberg has not properly verified if it actually has happened , then their article becomes a lie; an…

If their sources are from the intelligence community do you really expect them to handover physical chips to the journalists they leak to?

I'd be very careful about the term "the intelligence community", that is the "community" which told the world the WMD story in Iraq.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#173
Any reason for these calls for retraction?

It's not like there aren't false stories about what happens at Apple or Amazon regularly, not that they're usually about hacking but the public calls for retraction seem somewhat as unique as the story.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#174

If Bloomberg ends up retracting the story, then the new question, for me, is how did this happen? Was it simply Bloomberg trying to get views? Or is it more interesting, like did their "sources" intentionally give them a fake story in order to hurt their credibility? Or was it to cast doubt on the anti-China stories in general?

I find inescapable the conclusion that Bloomberg was a patsy in all this, somehow. Their story is panning out to be a more and more bald-faced lie by the day, and the accusations they made weren't exactly quiet or ignorable either. I actually find it easier to imagine a grand conspiracy to make Bloomberg print this story than I can imagine every journalist there suddenly forgetting every bit of integrity and common sense they ever had.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bloomberg claims that there is evidence floating around - unless they're bluffing, they should be able to show evidence of at least one such motherboard, instead of CGI graphics showing how it might look. Have they seen any actual hard evidence? Noone is disputing that the described attack vector is possible, but if Bloomberg has not properly verified if it actually has happened , then their article becomes a lie; an…

These were supposedly targeted attacks. Why would Bloomberg have access to AWS and Apple internally designed boards?

> internally designed boards

What? The allegations are against super micro boards produced in China.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#176
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If their sources are from the intelligence community do you really expect them to handover physical chips to the journalists they leak to?

I'd be very careful about the term "the intelligence community", that is the "community" which told the world the WMD story in Iraq.

That would be politicians who ignored any of the "IC" analysis that contradicted their claims, and made up their own conclusions from dubious sources of "raw" intelligence like Ahmed Chalabi.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#177
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just need ONE board to be able to prove it. Surely Bloomberg or their sources can get their hand on a single piece?

So if a newspaper wanted evidence that your company fucked up you would go and dismantle company property to discredit your employer knowing that it's likely to damage them and ruin you.

If you want to blow a whistle, yes. If not dismantle, at least photograph the object. If your employer retaliates, you can make good money in speaker fees retelling the story, or get a job at a company that wants to be known for good hardware security.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#178
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If their sources are from the intelligence community do you really expect them to handover physical chips to the journalists they leak to?

If the intelligence community expects what they say to be reported as fact, then they need to pony up at least something to verify their claims. Otherwise the news media is just a mouthpiece for the intelligence community. That's particularly bad because one of their jobs is to be a check against just such behavior.

But it likely isn't the IC saying it so much as a whistleblower saying.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These were supposedly targeted attacks. Why would Bloomberg have access to AWS and Apple internally designed boards?

> internally designed boards What? The allegations are against super micro boards produced in China.

Super Micro builds custom designed boards for other businesses given the right quantities. It's a huge part of their business; I wouldn't be surprised if it's bigger than their white box boards.

One of the allegations was that special purpose video encoder boards from a hardware startup that Amazon acquired (Elemental) were targeted. These aren't off the shelf boards that anyone can buy.

Re: AWS CEO Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story

#180

It’s really starting to smell like Bloomberg got played hard here. To preserve their journalistic integrity they either need to produce some supporting evidence real fast or admit they screwed up and retract the story.

Smells more and more like something 4chan would do.
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