Live data from Hacker News

US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

arstechnica.com

161–170 of 296 posts

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t really understand comments like this. US has lots of problems but we do have the semblance of rule of law. We do have the notion of transparency and you do not get sent to a labor camp if you have political views antithetical to the state. The Chinese can and do simply disappear people without the semblance of due process. Their history also is one of ethnic cleansing as the Han people have pushed out or marg…

> I don’t really understand comments like this. US has lots of problems but we do have the semblance of rule of law I, as a European citizen have no practical way to benefit of that semblance of rule of law.

I'm sure you enjoy imported goods in your European country no? Imported goods that were likely shipped to you via pirate-free shipping lanes courtesy of the US Navy?

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I have never corresponded with a Uighur, and certainly never on topics that are sensitive for the Chinese state. Have you?

I don't see any reason why I would be afforded any more legal protections than they give to their own citizens, do you?

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#164

Note: The following might be considered off-topic. On the otherhand, there might be something nefarious in the SMS network. I found something strange that affects SMS in Canada. You can send the lower case text "secure communication", but it will never be recieved by the recipient. I am not sure if this behavior is reproducible outside of Canada. It might be a software defect, or perhaps there is something capturing…

Tried it, works.

Also seems to not deliver SMSs that contain other combinations with 'secure communication' within it.

E.g.

'Hahahaha juice secure communication james'

or

'Not secure communication'

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#165

A question to Europeans reading this- If you had to assume that U.S. 5G equipment manufacturers would provide backdoors to U.S. officials, and Chinese 5G equipment manufacturers would provide backdoors to Chinese officials, and Europeans had to use one or the other, which would you choose?

The answer is simple: do not buy foreign made network technology. That is difficult but the intra European market (if there is trust there) should be big enough for e.g. Ericsson to keep up their Network tech group

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#166

Note: The following might be considered off-topic. On the otherhand, there might be something nefarious in the SMS network. I found something strange that affects SMS in Canada. You can send the lower case text "secure communication", but it will never be recieved by the recipient. I am not sure if this behavior is reproducible outside of Canada. It might be a software defect, or perhaps there is something capturing…

I wonder, but will not test, what happens if you put some code in between secure and communication. Like “; OR 1=1”.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said we should pretend it's not happening. I'm saying that even bringing that up as a point of comparison with China is silly.

I don't understand how it's relevant to point out that US government actions are illegal. The fact is that it's really happening, so in point of fact, the US is not categorically different from China. The difference, if any, is solely one of degree.

It being illegal is relevant because it is at least considered wrong to do. The degree of difference in what is considered acceptable (and also what is happening) between the two is so staggeringly different it isn't even comparable.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#168

Shouldn't moments like this be death blows? I had totally thought after Apple and Microsoft were caught working on PRISM Americans and corporations would be doing drastic steps to avoid their communication being intercepted. But for some reason that never happened.

I agree, there is probably a reason for that.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how it's relevant to point out that US government actions are illegal. The fact is that it's really happening, so in point of fact, the US is not categorically different from China. The difference, if any, is solely one of degree.

It being illegal is relevant because it is at least considered wrong to do. The degree of difference in what is considered acceptable (and also what is happening) between the two is so staggeringly different it isn't even comparable.

I will continue to disagree, until you can show me that someone is being punished for the illegal actions, and that further steps are being taken to prevent such transgressions in the future.

Today in America it is de facto legal for law enforcement to do this stuff. The fact that a piece of paper somewhere might say otherwise has no bearing on what's actually happening.

Re: US says it can prove Huawei has backdoor access to mobile-phone networks

#170

A question to Europeans reading this- If you had to assume that U.S. 5G equipment manufacturers would provide backdoors to U.S. officials, and Chinese 5G equipment manufacturers would provide backdoors to Chinese officials, and Europeans had to use one or the other, which would you choose?

Answer from one European individual - USA of course. It doesn't even require a split second of consideration for me.

The major and decisive difference between USA and China is not what they have done, are doing or might do. It is simply that the USA is a democracy and China is not.

In the USA, most of the people in positions of power /have to leave that position/ and /can't do whatever they want/ even when they have it.

That fact alone makes all the difference and is so substantial that it in my mind totally invalidates any whataboutism in this question and any other comparison between the USA and any dictatorship.

Even if a democracy happens to do more evil things in a period of time than a dictatorship, they are the better choice simply because they are a democracy and thus enables the people to both protest and also actually end the evil, through the legal system in the nation. (This does not mean that evil actions are OK when democracies are guilty of them of course, I'm not saying that.)

If and when the day comes that China has had at least two transfers of power to new leaders as a result of internationally observed and validated democratic elections by the people of China, then it would be something to think about. But not as of now.

Based on the premise that I have to choose a spying nation, of course, which I'd rather not do in real life! :)

Post reply on HN