Is this the whole Furby scare from 20 years ago[1]? Granted the tech is much more advanced and it's more plausible today. All the fear mongering is fatiguing.
U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
151–160 of 165 posts
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#152Why not publish a specific threat? These vague "The Chinese are up to something but we cannot reveal what" isn't really helpful, particularly given the current trade tensions (and political motivations e.g. "bring jobs home"). I'm not really "siding" with the Chinese, they may be up to something, but the US has really done themselves a great deal of damage when their own allies don't really believe them. Just publish…
It's about what could also. Every Chinese company with > 50 employees has a representative of the Communist party on the board.
It's defined by law and law works very differently in China.
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#153The problem that US is facing is the loss of credibility over time. It reminds me of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. US doesn't have the credibility to convince the world anymore, even if the threat is real.. There is a lot of rebuilding the US has to do. First fix the politics which is rife with petty interests, lobbying, political imbalance very skewed towards corporations over citizens, extreme polarization, 2 party syste…
The other thing that has happened is the internet and the free flow of information. It is no longer the case of manipulating 3-4 media outlets. People get their information at thousands of different places. I think its not really a loss of credibility, but the normalization of credibility based on a huge pool of information, rather than a restricted one.
> I think its not really a loss of credibility, but the normalization of credibility based on a huge pool of information
That's a great point. It's like the "credibility bubble" burst due to the increased inflow of information, and the public is correcting toward a more realistic valuation - which is to say, recognizing propaganda for what it is, and rightfully being critical of mass media.
I'm also seeing that there are massive investments being made to regain the trust bubble through social media. Historically, the public seems to have short-term memory though..
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
It feels more likely to imply that "we have no hard evidence". So the argument still boils down to "because China", not "because spying". Which isn't a strong argument if you like to (at least try to) draw your own conclusion and not be fed one. Are you worried that your iPhone or Tesla will be hijacked the same way? You already know this happened before with the knowledge of the companies involved (secret subpoenas…
> It feels more likely to imply that "we have no hard evidence". There is hard evidence of the vulnerability, which logically follows from any OTA update capability, but there may be no hard evidence of exploitation yet. Think of it this way: if your software has a RCE, you fix or mitigate it regardless if it's actively being exploited or not. > Are you worried that your iPhone or Tesla will be hijacked the same way?…
The lesser evil. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. History is full of examples where people followed short term aligned interests straight into long term suffering.
Do you think it's more about your values or somebody's ego and interests?
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#155So I guess it's fine for the US to ship Intel hardware with suspected backdoors in the ME. But it's somehow unacceptable for the Chinese to be rumoured to do the same?
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#156So I guess it's fine for the US to ship Intel hardware with suspected backdoors in the ME. But it's somehow unacceptable for the Chinese to be rumoured to do the same?
From the US point of view, that's a perfectly reasonable position to take. (See also my reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19975483)
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
my Chinese friends feel all very similarly. While I don't agree with them, it's not productive to be insensitive to their concerns. That's not how you solve conflict.
It doesn't even make any sense. Do they think America is similarly engaged in a trade war with our own ethnic Chinese citizens? One of our most strident anti-China hawks is named Gordon Chang. And we aren't in any struggle against Taiwan. No, I don't have to be sensitive to such delusions.
Yes, they are Chinese Americans and they feel this country discriminates heavily against them (for example in college admissions).
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a great argument against all OTA devices. But if the US actually took that threat seriously, half of the Valley would be out of a job tomorrow.
> This is a great argument against all OTA devices Indeed. And for life safety uses it's appropriate. In safety-conscious settings such as those involving line voltages requiring NRTL (UL for ex) listing OTA updates are forbidden: One must have physical access to the device to perform a permitted [0] code update. [0] And the code updates themselves are subject to IEC 60730/UL 1998 or it's back to the NRTL for more te…
It's a great argument for devices made in the US. We can't trust Chinese tech yet we don't make our own.
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah, it's more comparable to Androids and iPhones. the US government could deploy an update to turn any phone into a spy device because both apple and Google are headquartered in the US
You say that like it's a settled issue and I don't think it is. If the capability is there, companies can be compelled to use it. If the capability doesn't exist, it isn't clear that companies can be compelled to invent it.
It's unfortunately a reality for us down under though - so it's not beyond the realm of imagination
Re: U.S. Warns Of Spy Dangers Of Chinese-Made Drones
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Teslas send loads of stuff back to Tesla servers which I'd assume are in the U.S. It's not an unusual thing to do in this cloud-happy day and age.
Sure, I can imagine that's fine for car telemetry and you enter into that knowing. It's common technology, even pool cars will have a black logging box. Do I expect a device in my home to be mapping out the floorspace and sending that back to unknown parties (whatever the location) without consent? Then no, that's different.
They're covered in cameras too. Imagine finding out your car has been uploading photos of the security detail inside your embassy. Pooh-poohing it away as "car telemetry" is like calling Cambridge Analytica's shenanigans "gathering metrics".