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Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

reuters.com

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Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#301

Post by yumraj »

brendoelfrendo wrote: post #265
felipelemos wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sent from my Xiaomi device: No.: Original - Approximate translation 1 "宗教虔信者阵线", “Front of religious believers”, ... 22 "西藏自由", “Free Tibet”, ... 60 "蒙古独立", “Independence of Mongolia”, 61 "89民运", “89 Democracy Movement”, 62 "基督灵恩布道团", “Christian charismatic mission”, ... 145 "伊斯兰联盟", “Islamic League”, ... 201 "民运", “Democratic Movement”, 202 "妇女委员会", “Women’s Committee”, 203 "伊斯兰马格里布基地组织", “Al-Qaida in the Islamic Ma…

Are you in mainland China? Because the article clearly states that this functionality is disabled in phones manufactured for export to the West. Edit to add: page 24 of the linked PDF, for reference.

but can be remotely reenabled at any time:

The capability in Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone software had been turned off for the "European Union region", but can be turned on remotely at any time, the Defence Ministry's National Cyber Security Centre said in the report.

Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#302

Post by xvilka »

beerandt wrote: post #67
gpderetta wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was stupid enough to buy a Xiaomi phone without enough due diligence. Aside from all spying that is going on, the software is abysmal. The problem with replacing the OS is that I believe most banking apps I use will stop working. Might just need to write this phone off.

Banking has to be the dumbest "security" industry there is. Restrict apps, but can still log in via browser. I have one bank app that actually says to screenshot a payment screen for your records, while blocking screenshots via app policy.

Banking apps are often the worst from the speed and user experience perspective as well. It's like they hire worst developers to work for them.

Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#304

Post by thefounder »

yumraj wrote: post #298

> The capability in Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone software had been turned off for the "European Union region", but can be turned on remotely at any time , the Defence Ministry's National Cyber Security Centre said in the report. While a lot of comments are rightly focusing on the censorship aspect of it, IMHO, the most concerning part of this is that this intrusive capability, while disabled for the EU region can be remo…

>> This implies that Xiaomi, and most likely all Chinese phone vendors and by extension CCP, has backdoors in all these devices.

They don't need backdoors. They are the "administrator" of your phone just like Apple is on iOS and MacOS or Microsoft on Windows boxes.You are just a guest.

It just happens that the chinese admins(aka vendors) don't mind being nasty and clumsy at the same time. All the manufacturers/vendors are controlled by their government(more or less).

That being said I don't buy chinese phones or software unless I have no choice but I don't trust Apple to shield my data from various governments either. It's just a matter of lesser evil.

Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#306

Post by reducesuffering »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #121

This may be kind of a dumb question, but what exactly is a "Chinese phone" and what is not? Is my current "Moto" branded phone (Lenovo) in the same boat and if not, why not?

Yes, Lenovo is a Chinese manufacturer

Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#308

Post by xvilka »

reginold wrote: post #122
EMM_386 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's downright dystopian. It sure is. No stopping it now though. I'm old enough to remember being able to go to someone's place and expect privacy. These days literally anything can have an HD cam. Not great for paranoia but what can you do? > They could just be monitoring everyone, They are. Snowden already proved this, and we apparently got into that particular situation to keep pace with China. Not my job.

You are more powerful than you may realize. Work on supporting open source hardware and software options. 1. If you are a developer, consider buying a Pinephone [1] and contributing to the codebase. 2. If not a developer, you can submit bug reports and test fixes. Same for Purism Librem phone as well [2]. 3. If you are neither, or have no time to spare but do have money, you can always purchase one for kicks or donat…

Biggest missing piece in all these "free" phones is giant (bigger than Linux kernel) baseband firmware blob. Until we have something like Osmocom but for LTE, LTE-A, 5G, etc, all this is pointless.

Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#309

Post by adventured »

tehjoker wrote: post #180
photochemsyn wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stealing information and protecting their position is pretty common in the corporate world, in fact that's how many corporations ensure their continued profitability. What you have in China is equivalent to "US Government" + "Big Tech" - "Bill of Rights".

Given the erosion in the bill of rights here, I suspect things are on a similar playing field. The main difference is the US government only censors using indirect means or by attacking the providers of information like Julian Assange. Did we forget that the NSA is collecting most of the traffic on the internet?

> Given the erosion in the bill of rights here, I suspect things are on a similar playing field.

Not even close. Ready?

Joe Biden is suffering from worsening dementia. It was obvious before he took office. He's incompetent for the office. His aids constantly have to protect him from the public spectacle of his declining mental condition. The media also constantly does their part to artificially shield him. Biden was probably the candidate most capable of beating Trump (the Biden campaign mostly let Trump punch himself out), perhaps the only candidate capable of it, however he was also not mentally/physically fit for the office.

Have you seen some of the super creepy videos of him on YouTube? How about all his various embarrassing gaffs (fella from down under)? They're still on YouTube. It works in a similar way in China with Xi and the party in general, right?

I've placed this comment on a public forum, anyone can read it.

When do the authorities show up to disappear me? How many years shall I spend in prison for my comment? Will my family be safe?

Did you see what the media did to Trump during his Presidency? Did you read social media during those four years? And there is a similar playing field in the US as in China? Ha.

Re: Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns

#310

Post by han2432 »

thefounder wrote: post #304
yumraj wrote: post #298

> The capability in Xiaomi's Mi 10T 5G phone software had been turned off for the "European Union region", but can be turned on remotely at any time , the Defence Ministry's National Cyber Security Centre said in the report. While a lot of comments are rightly focusing on the censorship aspect of it, IMHO, the most concerning part of this is that this intrusive capability, while disabled for the EU region can be remo…

>> This implies that Xiaomi, and most likely all Chinese phone vendors and by extension CCP, has backdoors in all these devices. They don't need backdoors. They are the "administrator" of your phone just like Apple is on iOS and MacOS or Microsoft on Windows boxes.You are just a guest. It just happens that the chinese admins(aka vendors) don't mind being nasty and clumsy at the same time. All the manufacturers/vendor…

I think you will have a hard time proving beyond speculation that Apple or Microsoft has backdoors to their OS. Would be curious to see any sources though. I actually think that is the difference here, Chinese phones and possibly other devices have backdoors, but Apple/Microsoft likely do not.
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