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Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

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Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#191

Post by yazan94 »

cltsang wrote: post #169
panarky wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US ... This style of argument is deflection, and it gets us nowhere. It's very effective in redirecting the focus away from one bad actor and onto another bad actor, though.

To clarify, in China, one could get "disappeared" for the rest of his/her life, just because of befriending CCP's "enemies", or speaking up against the official rhetoric. I don't think the two countries are even remotely comparable on this front.

China is definitely worse than America in that regard as far as we can tell, but lets not forget Guantanamo Bay and America taking suspects to be tortured overseas.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#192

Post by redwards510 »

If the US started doing this (scanning phones for islamic terrorism files) to foreigners at the border, would you care? If it was just a scan and no data was harvested?

I believe strongly in the right to privacy, but I have to admit, I do not want anyone coming into my country who has beheading videos on their phone. Unless they are a journalist or something, obviously.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#193

Post by yazan94 »

schoen wrote: post #124
braythwayt wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Others can chime in, but I believe that most serious companies doing business with China have a burner-device policy for employees travelling to China. Your devices will all be hacked with industrial espionage malware, and just in case you don't have anything on those devices, you will be given devices as "gifts"—like flash drives and WiFi-equipped smart home devices--that will exploit any devices you didn't bring wi…

I'm always confused when I hear this about why malware researchers don't obtain a huge trove of malware samples (and/or zero-day exploits) by obtaining some of these "gifts" and then connecting them to honeypot devices. If all you have to do to receive one is travel to China as an employee of a major U.S. company, they must be quite easy to get ahold of.

I imagine the average Joe working at MSFT/AAPL/GOOG/etc. doesn't get such gifts unless they are worth hacking - in which case I imagine the gift-givers would have done their due diligence. Also corporate policies can be pretty specific and strict regarding gifts to eliminate potential conflicts of interests.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#194

Post by bongobongo »

redwards510 wrote: post #192

If the US started doing this (scanning phones for islamic terrorism files) to foreigners at the border, would you care? If it was just a scan and no data was harvested? I believe strongly in the right to privacy, but I have to admit, I do not want anyone coming into my country who has beheading videos on their phone. Unless they are a journalist or something, obviously.

You may not know this, but the Constitution guarantees the same rights to foreigners on US soil as it does to US citizens. (This is a pretty basic part of civic education, but civic education in the US these days is terrible.)

So, no, I would not be OK with the government violating the Constitution.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#195

Post by kemiller2002 »

redwards510 wrote: post #192

If the US started doing this (scanning phones for islamic terrorism files) to foreigners at the border, would you care? If it was just a scan and no data was harvested? I believe strongly in the right to privacy, but I have to admit, I do not want anyone coming into my country who has beheading videos on their phone. Unless they are a journalist or something, obviously.

Actually yes I would. What we see now as abhorrent may and will change in the future. The images you are describing obviously make my stomach churn, but how long will it be until they are scanning to deny access to anyone they want to. For example...."Oh it looks like that is a Jewish ceremony." Once this door opens, it can be used for so many other evil things.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#196

Post by z33k »

xenospn wrote: post #187
olliej wrote: post #173

So it’s android only?

iOS is probably looked at as well, but has to be done manually since there's no way to just do it with a simple app.

I'd wager that they have a enterprise certificate to sign the iOS app with. Then it's a matter of sending the spy victims to a URL, installing the app and granting access to photos/ location/ whatever.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#197

Post by crispyporkbites »

redwards510 wrote: post #192

If the US started doing this (scanning phones for islamic terrorism files) to foreigners at the border, would you care? If it was just a scan and no data was harvested? I believe strongly in the right to privacy, but I have to admit, I do not want anyone coming into my country who has beheading videos on their phone. Unless they are a journalist or something, obviously.

How many terrorists have entered US territory through an airport with a beheading video on their phone and then carried out an attack on US soil?

Answer: approximately zero

How many terrorists would be deterred by this policy?

Answer: none

How many ordinary people would be more likely to carry out attacks or harbour resentment towards the USA because of policies like these?

Answer: more than 0

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#198

Post by vecplane »

bongobongo wrote: post #194
redwards510 wrote: post #192

If the US started doing this (scanning phones for islamic terrorism files) to foreigners at the border, would you care? If it was just a scan and no data was harvested? I believe strongly in the right to privacy, but I have to admit, I do not want anyone coming into my country who has beheading videos on their phone. Unless they are a journalist or something, obviously.

You may not know this, but the Constitution guarantees the same rights to foreigners on US soil as it does to US citizens. (This is a pretty basic part of civic education, but civic education in the US these days is terrible.) So, no, I would not be OK with the government violating the Constitution.

This is true, and an arbitrary stance like certain videos on your phone prevent entry into the US isn't appropriate. But at the same time, any country reserves the right to deny entry based on reasonable criteria. It's just a question of what those criteria are, and how much access the state should have to search someone upon entering.

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#199

Post by belltaco »

tantalor wrote: post #110
bitcharmer wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure under which rock you were hiding all this time, so here you are: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48118558 https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/05/01/u-s-customs-ca... https://www.zdnet.com/article/warrantless-phone-laptop-searc...

I was referring to "give away a list of all their social media accounts and all their email accounts", not "If you ... you must now share that information". Your references make no mention of the former.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20065142

Re: Chinese authorities install app on phones of people entering Xinjiang

#200

Post by plussed_reader »

redwards510 wrote: post #189

What I don't understand is why they leave the app installed on the person's phone after the scan if it does not do any further scanning in the background.

I wouldn't be surprised if the app is a visa requirement while visiting.
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