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I'm guessing that since he was a) Chinese-American and b) working on a high-tech research project involving classified information, the FBI was already suspicio

by zhemao 11y ago

I'm guessing that since he was a) Chinese-American and b) working on a high-tech research project involving classified information, the FBI was already suspicious of him and monitored his email and other communications.

greglindahl 11y ago
What classified information? The article says it was "sensitive" and that he had "signed an agreement promising to keep its design a secret". That sounds like an NDA. How many techies have signed an NDA?
- Beltiras 11y ago
  Everyone? It's been boilerplate text in my last 3 employment contracts.
rhino369 11y ago
The FBI isn't typically allowed to do that without a warrant, which would require probably cause. They or the NSA could do it anyway, but the evidence would never be let into court. The most likely answer if they got emails from whoever they were sent or forwarded to. Chinese spies looking for this information would, presumably, pose as experts or students and get involved in academic discussions at conferences and email chains/listseves. So hypothetically the FBI could bust a real spy, then see emails from Dr. Xi sending technical information and they suspect the worst. The FBI could have even infiltrated these groups themselves directly, which doesn't require a warrant or any oversight. One other way I just thought of is that public school employees, like Temple, don't own their work email. A regular person can use FOIA to get professors emails. I wonder if the FBI is allowed to use FOIA.
- hackuser 11y ago
  > The FBI isn't typically allowed to do that without a warrant, which would require probably cause. They or the NSA could do it anyway, but the evidence would never be let into court. At least some law enforcement has a track record of acquiring evidence one way and, once they know what the resulting evidence should be, reconstructing it in a court-admissable way.
df41 11y ago
I agree. My university had a Chinese full professor who was leading a large center with multi-million funding. My roommate was his student. FBI knocked his door because he had talked about something sensitive over the phone. I guess there was nothing serious because nothing happened except that FBI agents gave a talk to all the faculty members about keeping secrets. The professor, after a couple of years, took a job offer from a Chinese university.

by zhemao 11y ago

greglindahl 11y ago

What classified information? The article says it was "sensitive" and that he had "signed an agreement promising to keep its design a secret". That sounds like an NDA. How many techies have signed an NDA?

Beltiras 11y ago
Everyone? It's been boilerplate text in my last 3 employment contracts.

rhino369 11y ago

The FBI isn't typically allowed to do that without a warrant, which would require probably cause. They or the NSA could do it anyway, but the evidence would never be let into court. The most likely answer if they got emails from whoever they were sent or forwarded to. Chinese spies looking for this information would, presumably, pose as experts or students and get involved in academic discussions at conferences and email chains/listseves. So hypothetically the FBI could bust a real spy, then see emails from Dr. Xi sending technical information and they suspect the worst. The FBI could have even infiltrated these groups themselves directly, which doesn't require a warrant or any oversight. One other way I just thought of is that public school employees, like Temple, don't own their work email. A regular person can use FOIA to get professors emails. I wonder if the FBI is allowed to use FOIA.

hackuser 11y ago
> The FBI isn't typically allowed to do that without a warrant, which would require probably cause. They or the NSA could do it anyway, but the evidence would never be let into court. At least some law enforcement has a track record of acquiring evidence one way and, once they know what the resulting evidence should be, reconstructing it in a court-admissable way.

df41 11y ago

I agree. My university had a Chinese full professor who was leading a large center with multi-million funding. My roommate was his student. FBI knocked his door because he had talked about something sensitive over the phone. I guess there was nothing serious because nothing happened except that FBI agents gave a talk to all the faculty members about keeping secrets. The professor, after a couple of years, took a job offer from a Chinese university.