patrick.net

It's OK because of US exceptionalism.

thunderlips11 says

Oh, interesting. Ain't free trade grand! That's what happens when you outsource. Which subcontractor for various routers, smartphones, video cards, sound boards, etc. is adding PLA snooping stuff? They all probably are. Anything to save a buck and not hire an American no matter what the cost! But whatever corporations do is great, so long as they do what we say, and don't tell the public.

Routers, smartphones, video/audio cards.. are all semiconductor chips ..

you can thank the Japanese/Taiwanese/Korean for dumping chips below the cost of production to drive US manufacturers out of business. It wasnt to "save a buck" as you civilians like to imagine which led to overseas plants.

thunderlips11 says

thomaswong.1986 says

So ... you rather have compromised systems from the other nations vs USA made which have NOT been compromised ?

I don't want to be spied on, period. Competition won't be foolproof, but being able to buy non-US hardware and software would throw a wrench in the MIC's plan.

I dont think you understand what is US vs non US HW/SW is...

Do you have any monitoring of foreign factories where the changes to create back doors are created. talk to a chinese workers lately ?

thunderlips11 says

Do you think China or the Russians can't exploit backdoors implemented at the NSA's request? They can analyze traffic, too, you know.

whats the point when they are sabotaging our designs and creating backdoors...

fact is every nation is reviewing their IT purchases of which are made in China/Russia.

the world is better off having US made HW/SW... only fools think otherwise.

thunderlips11 says

The 4th Amendment was implemented by the founding fathers for a reason. I see no compelling reason to toss it out the window.

Jesus, does nobody remember the 80s when the Basques, IRA, various "Red" groups, Libya, etc. was bombing every other disco and bus stop? Or the 60s, when bombs went off on campuses all the freakin' time? We didn't need to smash the 4th Amendment then, why now?

what does the 4th amendment have to do with a GLOBAL world wide web ?

Our constitution does not apply to terrorist groups (IRA, basque, Libya, etc etc).
then or now...

its people lack of understanding of what the WWW is and how it works that is the problem.

thomaswong.1986 says

Do you have any monitoring of foreign factories where the changes to create back doors are created. talk to a chinese workers lately ?

You're being paranoiac about China. A lot of hardware products designed in the US are assembled in China from parts (like chips) made in Korea, Japan or elsewhere. The products are QAed as being what was designed with the components as by design and there are foreign representatives in these Chinese factories. There is simply very little opportunity to tamper with them on a scale as massive as what the NSA is doing.

In any case the problem is not with China. The problem is for country like Germany, Japan, France, Brazil, Italy, etc... Are these countries going to continue using HW/SW that they know for sure is NSA spyware? No, not for anything where security is important.

Worse US tech companies completely lost any shred of credibility. Even if they come and announce new "safe" products, no one is going to believe them.

thomaswong.1986 says

what does the 4th amendment have to do with a GLOBAL world wide web ?

Sorry, NSA spies on Americans in the US too, collects all emails and other communications and search them with no reason to do so. Even filtering messages based on content is basically the same as a search.

If you think the constitution should be disregarded whenever it's convenient for the government, then why have a constitution at all? I suggest you go live in China if you like 'benevolent' dictatorships.

Heraclitusstudent says

The products are QAed as being what was designed with the components as by design and there are foreign representatives in these Chinese factories. There is simply very little opportunity to tamper with them on a scale as massive as what the NSA is doing.

its been tampered to the extent many foreign nations will NOT be buying any equipment from China.

Heraclitusstudent says

In any case the problem is not with China. The problem is for country like Germany, Japan, France, Brazil, Italy, etc... Are these countries going to continue using HW/SW that they know for sure is NSA spyware? No, not for anything where security is important.

if you know anything about hacking then you would understand devices are "taken over" and used for hackers purposes.. none of these nations have the resources to "Snoop" out what devices have been infected and compromised.

Your PC could be infected by a "botnet" and controlled from China.. as many today are. Better to have NSA protect then exposed to thief by foreign power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet#Illegal_botnets

Your acting as if the global Chinese Hacking attacks are not happening regardless how many nations have come out to protest against the attacks coming from China.

Heraclitusstudent says

Sorry, NSA spies on Americans in the US too, collects all emails and other communications and search them with no reason to do so. Even filtering messages based on content is basically the same as a search.

internet traffic is in binary code running across copper and fiber-optic wires.. can you figure out who is american and who is not from binary code below...

010000100110010100100000011100110111010101110010011001
010010000001110100011011110010000001100100011100100110
100101101110011010110010000001111001011011110111010101
110010001000000100111101110110011000010110110001110100
01101001011011100110010100101110

Heraclitusstudent says

If you think the constitution should be disregarded whenever it's convenient for the government, then why have a constitution at all? I suggest you go live in China if you like 'benevolent' dictatorships

The constitution does not cover foreigners. we can spy on them as much as we like.

Your out of touch of what is happening.. the NSA/Snowden is no more than the

distraction of Chinese move to control the GLOBAL internet and telecom activity..

and like the dumb shit you sit there worried about your rights being violated..

Report: Chinese PLA Access 80% of “World’s Communications”

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2012/07/16/report-chinese-access-80-of-worlds-communications/#ixzz2ewLuaCcv
Defense.org

China has found a backdoor to access 80 percent of the “world’s communications” to include information passed through the internet and sensitive infrastructure databases, writes a former senior security analyst for the Pentagon.

F. Michael Maloof, who now writes for WND, cites Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and ZTE Corporation as the companies the Chinese government and People Liberation Army can use to gain access to this information via commercial networks installed by each Chinese electronic manufacturer.

“The two companies give the Chinese remote electronic “backdoor” access through the equipment they have installed in telecommunications networks in 140 countries. The Chinese companies service 45 of the world’s 50 largest telecom operators,” Maloof writes.

He goes further to say the Chinese are working to access the remaining 20 percent. Individuals and companies who communicate over their “virtual private networks” or VPNs are especially susceptible. Sources have told Maloof those networks are leaking like a “sieve” to Chinese data collectors, especially those that connect to companies based in places like Mexico.

Read more: http://defensetech.org/2012/07/16/report-chinese-access-80-of-worlds-communications/#ixzz2ewLjpCFr
Defense.org

Heraclitusstudent says

I suggest you go live in China if you like 'benevolent' dictatorships.

suggest that to Dan.. he seems to favor bashing the USA for his dictators back home.

Heraclitusstudent says

I suggest you go live in China if you like 'benevolent' dictatorships.

China is hardly benevolent. It's human rights abuse is atrocious. In fact, many of us have called on trade with China being linked to human rights, not that that's going to happen.

thomaswong.1986 says

can you figure out who is american and who is not

Which is exactly why the Fourth Amendment takes president over laws allowing spying on other nations. Not that spying on our allies is a smart thing to do. We risk losing those allies, and they are far more important than any information we could obtain by pissing them off.

thomaswong.1986 says

The constitution does not cover foreigners.

The Constitution does not "cover people". The Constitution places limitations on the legal powers of the government.

thomaswong.1986 says

China has found a backdoor to access 80 percent of the “world’s communications” to include information passed through the internet and sensitive infrastructure databases, writes a former senior security analyst for the Pentagon.

The is an obvious affect of outsourcing IT to China. I've said many times that the country that builds and maintains the information infrastructure will be the economic and political powerhouse of the 21st century.

thomaswong.1986 says

Heraclitusstudent says

I suggest you go live in China if you like 'benevolent' dictatorships.

suggest that to Dan.. he seems to favor bashing the USA for his dictators back home.

I favor bashing dictators anywhere in the world. You just bitch and moan when I bash the ones in the U.S.

thomaswong.1986 says

whats the point when they are sabotaging our designs and creating backdoors...

The US Government mandates - not optional - that US manufacturers include backdoors for law enforcement (and the NSA). I don't doubt that the Chinese are sneaking in backdoors via the subcontractor process.

So instead of just having one set of backdoors, we now have multiple backdoors installed, not just in software but also hardware, by *multiple* countries. Sounds safe and secure. Let me login to my bank account... I'm sure no Russian Hacker would ever find a way to exploit them, right?

If the NSA broke SSL, you think the Russians and Chinese haven't? The solution is more robust encryption for Americans, not less. The government should even encourage widespread encryption by Americans (they only do so for US Companies; they don't want Joe Average encrypting anything).

A bad guy encrypts something? Then have LEOs charge his ass for just about anything and produce a warrant that he turn over his passwords. If he doesn't, he sits in the slammer for contempt of court until he does. While he's in jail, he can't do anything terrorist-y, no?

thomaswong.1986 says

the NSA/Snowden is no more than the

distraction of Chinese move to control the GLOBAL internet and telecom activity..

Yep, and it's mighty odd the US isn't insisting it's chief collab--- er, ally - not turn over it's basic internet infrastructure to a PLA-founded corporation.

thomaswong.1986 says

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd

You realize that GCHQ, which wants to spy (and does) on every British Citizen, just gave Huawei THE contract to administer the most important UK internet infrastructure, right?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/13/huawei_sanqi_li_says_no_national_security_threat/

Sometimes Alex Jones makes sense, governments make threats about how the Chinese and the Muslims are out to get everybody, so we have to give up our right to privacy, then turn around and give important infrastructure to Chicom and Wahabi-allied businesses like Huawei and Dubai Ports World.

Of course, Jones is wrong because money, as always, is more important than security. The government appears stupid because they only harass the poor and not the rich and powerful whom it works for. We hear about how important the TSA is, Customs is handling record imports with no exponential expansions of staff over the past two decades, when imports and the trade deficit were a tiny fraction of what they are now. Less than 1% of containers are inspected at all.

Can't inconvenience Walmart, but taking off our shoes for the one-hour domestic connecting flight is oh-so-very Serious and demands massive staffing and expenditure on MIC Machines and MIC-provided training.

Speaking of "Trusted Computing", the goddamn secure boot in UEFI won't let me put LINUX MINT on my new desktop. I'm going to get a CD-Drive and try to live boot it. No Live Boot USB works, either, and the manual says only Windows OS is supported on the motherboard, not that that means anything.