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Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

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21–30 of 84 posts

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#21
post #12

I hope Huawei make a fully open source and hack-able mobile phone. I think that would sell like crazy on the western market where everyone hates Google, and ride the news wave and turn it around into their favor.

People don’t hate Google as much as you want to believe, people love Google Search/Maps/Gmail and everyone who wanted “a fully open source phone” could install MicroG for a long time already.

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#22
post #12

I hope Huawei make a fully open source and hack-able mobile phone. I think that would sell like crazy on the western market where everyone hates Google, and ride the news wave and turn it around into their favor.

You won’t get an open source baseband ever trough certification.

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#23

I view this kind of caution against foreign powers (corporations are not separate from their governments in time of war) in the same way that the 2nd amendment protects us against tyranny. And seatbelts from flying through wind shields. You don't need it until you need it, and if you don't have it, it's too late. National infrastructure that needs to work in a time of war must be nationally controlled by all nations.…

Innthe age of information spying is the war.

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#24
post #10

One point that I'm missing, is that the government of China can legally force any of their companies to start spying. And there would be no way that we would know. Then often the argument becomes: But the US are already spying on us, so it's not too bad. Which is fair, but in the US, there are checks and balances and freedoms so that somebody has recourse. All these things are absent in China. So the question is one…

"there are checks and balances and freedoms" you are so full of child like innocence, I envy you

Yet US got significantly more checks and balances and freedoms than China.

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#25

One point that I'm missing, is that the government of China can legally force any of their companies to start spying. And there would be no way that we would know. Then often the argument becomes: But the US are already spying on us, so it's not too bad. Which is fair, but in the US, there are checks and balances and freedoms so that somebody has recourse. All these things are absent in China. So the question is one…

>in the US, there are checks and balances and freedoms so that somebody has recourse. All these things are absent in China. If the government really wants you they'll take you. And no amount of thoughts, prayers or picketing will free you. We've seen examples of that in our generation, the last 20 years only when we've had a massive information network available. Imagine all the nameless poor sods who have disappeare…

I'm not naive about the limitations of the freedoms that are afforded to a citizen by the US government, or my government for that matter. We should have more freedoms and say into our government, and it should be more fair.

But here's the main point: It's a hell of a lot better than in China. Freedom and checks and balances are always on a spectrum. You're arguing that because there are limitations to your freedom, you might as well be totally in chains.

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#26
Maybe not yet, but it surely gives them the capability to spy later on.

My country, Vietnam, also banned Huawei equipment[1], and I don't believe it's pure paranoia. China has been taking every chances to spy on us, from illegally buy houses near Da Nang airport[2] (nearest airbase to Paracels) to 'tourists' walking near the Ministry of Defence to Advanced Persistent Threat targeting petroleum or maritime corporation (forgot the link right now).

We just don't trust China, and there're numerous reasons for that. This may sound racist but the stereotype of Chinese in Vietnam is extremely cunning, for better or worse, they will do everything to get to their goals as long as they don't get found out. China has 5000 years of history, they always play the long game.

Some quotations from "The Art of War" 2500 years ago:

"Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business"

" The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become converted spies and available for our service. "

[1] https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/09/vietnam-doesnt-trust-hu...

[2] https://tuoitrenews.vn/society/32340/da-nang-suspects-more-l...

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#27

I view this kind of caution against foreign powers (corporations are not separate from their governments in time of war) in the same way that the 2nd amendment protects us against tyranny. And seatbelts from flying through wind shields. You don't need it until you need it, and if you don't have it, it's too late. National infrastructure that needs to work in a time of war must be nationally controlled by all nations.…

I think the UK appears to have taken the pragmatic descision since Thatcher, that in anything serious these days it is either overrun or obliterated, so might as well buy the cheap stuff from our strategic rivals that will break down in an apocalypse and we can make some quick cash in the mean time selling off all the national technical base.

edit - Has been going on since long before Thatcher, to be fair. There's an old documentary about this subject by Spike Milligan, called 'The Bed Sitting Room' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de0w8tU0j1U

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#28

One point that I'm missing, is that the government of China can legally force any of their companies to start spying. And there would be no way that we would know. Then often the argument becomes: But the US are already spying on us, so it's not too bad. Which is fair, but in the US, there are checks and balances and freedoms so that somebody has recourse. All these things are absent in China. So the question is one…

For me, as an ex-Australian who has lived in America and Europe, I don't trust either China or America with regards to their spying. Both countries have a long line of human rights violations in their history, and neither has shown a particular improvement in the last few decades. The USA has committed untold strife in the world. It has toppled democratically elected governments and installed dictators, it has declar…

True.

>

At least the modern China is not known for war crimes (with hundreds of thousands of dead people) and destruction of countries.

Example of war crimes:

Madeleine Albright says 500,000 dead Iraqi Children was "worth it" wins Medal of Freedom (2012-05-02).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnskeu-puE

U.S. Has Spent Six Trillion Dollars on Wars That Killed Half a Million People Since 9/11, Report Says (2018-11-14).

https://www.newsweek.com/us-spent-six-trillion-wars-killed-h...

Quote: Overall, researchers estimated that "between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in the United States’ post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan." This toll "does not include the more than 500,000 deaths from the war in Syria, raging since 2011" when a West-backed rebel and jihadi uprising challenged the government, an ally of Russia and Iran.

Example of cyber crime:

How U.K. Spies Hacked a European Ally and Got Away With It (2018-02-17).

https://theintercept.com/2018/02/17/gchq-belgacom-investigat...

Quote 1: The Belgacom breach sparked outrage in Europe’s political institutions and made global headlines. But Belgium’s effort to identify the spies responsible and hold them accountable faced roadblocks at almost every turn. Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, refused to assist. Prosecutors overseeing the case feared triggering a major diplomatic dispute and were reluctant to pursue it aggressively. Meanwhile, British spies tried to destroy the evidence.

Quote 2: “We wanted to show that as a small country, we would not be bullied,” said a source close to the investigation. “But we were fighting against two big cyberarmies from the U.K. and the U.S. We knew we could never win this.”

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#29

One point that I'm missing, is that the government of China can legally force any of their companies to start spying. And there would be no way that we would know. Then often the argument becomes: But the US are already spying on us, so it's not too bad. Which is fair, but in the US, there are checks and balances and freedoms so that somebody has recourse. All these things are absent in China. So the question is one…

For me, as an ex-Australian who has lived in America and Europe, I don't trust either China or America with regards to their spying. Both countries have a long line of human rights violations in their history, and neither has shown a particular improvement in the last few decades. The USA has committed untold strife in the world. It has toppled democratically elected governments and installed dictators, it has declar…

There's a massive difference between foreign country spying on you and your own democratically elected government spying on you.

Before you try to call US not democratic - don't. It is democratic. Especially when you compare to China. Of course, there's no perfect democracy and we can always work for more.

Re: Paranoia will destroy us: Why Huawei and other Chinese tech is not spying

#30

Maybe not yet, but it surely gives them the capability to spy later on. My country, Vietnam, also banned Huawei equipment[1], and I don't believe it's pure paranoia. China has been taking every chances to spy on us, from illegally buy houses near Da Nang airport[2] (nearest airbase to Paracels) to 'tourists' walking near the Ministry of Defence to Advanced Persistent Threat targeting petroleum or maritime corporation…

What do you think America is doing?
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