Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

thehill.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 135 posts

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#91

Post by AtlasBarfed »

cma wrote: post #26
transcriptase wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that have to do with the topic at hand? Nearly every CEO at a company making physical products from 1990 onward owes much of their net worth to Chinese factories.

I think Musk got one of the biggest concessions ever without any precedent, something like 100% ownership where no other car plant ever got that before.

The CCP can seize that at any moment, and I think will in the event of economic war.

Certainly if they invade Taiwan and there's a hot response from the US

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#92

Post by AtlasBarfed »

chasil wrote: post #45
cma wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Musk got one of the biggest concessions ever without any precedent, something like 100% ownership where no other car plant ever got that before.

I don't think that anyone could have predicted one year ago where Elon Musk would be today. I think the same is true of next year. That man is full of surprises.

That is charitable.

I see a clear path of decline.

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#93

Post by dullcrisp »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #87
dullcrisp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll admit to having engaged in some of those activities if pressed.

Oh, I didn't even mention the dinners: > https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell... Or the "speaking fees," the insider trading, etc. I could go on all day. You think that sort of thing isn't corruption? The US has elevated official corruption into high art.

I think Trump hosting million dollar dinners deserves to be called out more than the concept of consulting, which I’m sure is used for both good and nefarious purposes.

If you’re referring to actual instances of former politicians being paid exorbitant consulting fees by corporations that they helped regulate, though, I’d be interested in better understanding what’s going on there too.

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#94

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

dullcrisp wrote: post #93
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I didn't even mention the dinners: > https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intell... Or the "speaking fees," the insider trading, etc. I could go on all day. You think that sort of thing isn't corruption? The US has elevated official corruption into high art.

I think Trump hosting million dollar dinners deserves to be called out more than the concept of consulting, which I’m sure is used for both good and nefarious purposes. If you’re referring to actual instances of former politicians being paid exorbitant consulting fees by corporations that they helped regulate, though, I’d be interested in better understanding what’s going on there too.

If you're in the business of selling to the government, you might find that it's impossible to make anything happen unless you hire "the right consultants." (Usually small firms that have hired ex-regulators or insiders.) That's what I meant. Not that generic firms like McKinsey are angels, though!

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#95

Post by rayiner »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #90
rayiner wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amusing that the right used to complain about “information warfare”—Marxist infiltration of universities, newspapers, and Hollywood—while now the left does so.

Communism wasn't an authoritarian movement back then, it was anti authoritarian. What is being opposed is authoritarianism. China isn't really communist, and neither was the ussr. It's just a regressive authoritarian regime with different propaganda. Authoritarianism is fundamentally right wing. Freedom for the right wing is fundamentally doublespeak for freedom for the oligarchs to gain power and oppress. Secondaril…

[flagged]

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#96

Post by ryoshoe »

rayiner wrote: post #95
AtlasBarfed wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Communism wasn't an authoritarian movement back then, it was anti authoritarian. What is being opposed is authoritarianism. China isn't really communist, and neither was the ussr. It's just a regressive authoritarian regime with different propaganda. Authoritarianism is fundamentally right wing. Freedom for the right wing is fundamentally doublespeak for freedom for the oligarchs to gain power and oppress. Secondaril…

[flagged]

There's no shortage of governments where the professed ideology fails to line up with its actual policies, just look at the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#97

Post by filoleg »

MeetingsBrowser wrote: post #56
filoleg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is even harder to take the accusations seriously, given that she made factually provably wrong statements that contradict the reality (and the original article in the OP actually contrasted those very plainly and directly, gotta commend good journalism there). > Wynn-Willias told senators that Meta built a “physical pipeline connecting the United States and China” and executives “ignored warnings that this would p…

This is mentioned in her book. In the book she says Meta wanted to build the pipeline, despite the warnings. But yes, ultimately the construction fell through. She is not claiming the pipeline exists today.

I am really curious to hear what evidence there is of that high-capacity fiberoptic undersea cable connecting LA to Hong-Kong (being worked on by many companies like Google/Meta/etc.) ever having any plans of being used as a “backdoor” for China to intercept all the user data.

Either there is some massive grand conspiracy going on between all those different companies (a good number of which have exactly zero products or revenue or business presence in China) and the Chinese government or, which I am leaning more towards given the claims, this is all just oversensationalized lies.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and so far we only got the “bush did 9/11” level of evidence for claims that are arguably even more wild and convoluted than that.

The author, for example, also claims that “yeah, this was all according to the plan, until congress stepped in to stop the fiberoptic cable due to those concerns.” Any record of congress doing that for those reasons?

What about existing fiberoptic cables going through China right now? Are those cables not as special or useful for that purpose? Why not?

I am not even defending China and their approaches. I am familiar with deep packet traffic inspection and other things of a similar nature their government does. But that’s not a blanket excuse to just claim wild massive multinational conspiracies involving so many actors, all without as much as even good reason for why it would even make sense for them all to cooperate.

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#98

Post by malshe »

avalys wrote: post #78

All I see in this story are a bunch of things that were under discussion at some point, but never happened. But then, “Meta considered doing business in China, evaluated and negotiated with the Chinese government what would be required to do so, and then did not proceed” isn’t a story that is going to sell a lot of books or get her a lot of attention. Another tell that this is a stunt for attention and not a genuine…

Read her book Careless People [1] where she shared many details. A crucial aspect of the China story is that FB/Meta conveyed to the Chinese officials that they were ready to do anything they asked for in the hope that they will be allowed in China.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Careless-People-Cautionary-Power-Idea...

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#99

Post by Capricorn2481 »

vasco wrote: post #59

If you're a director of global public policy for seven years, who are you really whistleblowing, the company, or yourself? I appreciate the information coming out, but in some of these situations I can't help but picture that "the worst person in the room" in regards to the offenses might also end up being the person that then becomes the most holier than thou when they get out of the company. If you ever met someone…

Everything is incentives of the company. People are not told to do something evil, they're told "We don't have the budget to look into that" or "don't do that until we hear from the higher-ups."

I'm disinterested in who made what call because ultimately it's designed to be nebulous. Someone breaking out of that horrific cycle and telling us what it leads to is a good thing. Even though it will likely lead to nothing, like it did with Sophie Zhang [1]

[1] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook...

Re: Whistleblower tells senators that Meta undermined U.S. security, interests

#100

Post by atVelocet »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #90
rayiner wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amusing that the right used to complain about “information warfare”—Marxist infiltration of universities, newspapers, and Hollywood—while now the left does so.

Communism wasn't an authoritarian movement back then, it was anti authoritarian. What is being opposed is authoritarianism. China isn't really communist, and neither was the ussr. It's just a regressive authoritarian regime with different propaganda. Authoritarianism is fundamentally right wing. Freedom for the right wing is fundamentally doublespeak for freedom for the oligarchs to gain power and oppress. Secondaril…

> …Communism wasn't an authoritarian movement back then…

When and where was that?

Post reply on HN