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Sounds like the author the author is going to China for the first time. Seriously; going through the Chinese border is much nicer experience than those two dec

by chvid 9y ago

Sounds like the author the author is going to China for the first time. Seriously; going through the Chinese border is much nicer experience than those two declining and/or former empires: USA and UK. They do not care about what is on your laptop. The Chinese block Facebook and al to prevent Chinese en masse joining Facebook; they don't care that a few westerners check up on dogs or complain about missing toilet paper using some VPN/SSH-thingee.

tluyben2 9y ago
I was going to say this: US and UK are far worse. Heathrow is so bad that I rather take an Uber from or to another airport. I have been going to all three quite a lot the past 3 years.
jldugger 9y ago
The author is the IT security person for the Linux Foundation, who's activities include distributing the Linux kernel via kernel.org. They represent a particularly juicy target for nation-state actors, and have been targeted with reasonably advanced attacks before. In 2015 the author published a checklist for laptop security, this is just an extension of that, teaching people (and LF employees) how to comply with their policies and China's. Are they likely to be hassled at the border? No. But if there's a way to make all parties happy, might as well document it.
- est 9y ago
  LMAO. Sounds like Redhat couldn't even dare setup a R&D center in China. Seriously if you frequent kernel mail lists you can see tons of Chinese participating in OOS.
- alecco 9y ago
  If I were him I would go with a burner laptop and wouldn't take with me any digital credentials.
  - mricon 9y ago
    That's the TL;DR of the article. ;)
- nickpsecurity 9y ago
  "who's activities include distributing the Linux kernel via kernel.org. They represent a particularly juicy target for nation-state actors" If they really cared, they wouldn't host it on Linux. It would be OpenBSD or something with every software measure possible on read-only storage that admin physically replaces. That's just to start with. It's good that the author is taking measures but it gets amusing how much risk they keep on distribution side when you bring up nation-states going after them. Most big ones have 0-days for Linux systems anyway. They just use them in a targeted fashion to get more ROI from them. China can probably hit anyone working for Linux Foundation if they wanted to outside some really, paranoid setups that might exist. They just don't since they don't care about them. They're 100% unimportant to Chinese intelligence. What is important is the source code of the kernel and privileged software which are freely available. If anything, letting Linux development and distribution continue is a good thing for Chinese intelligence since developers add features (and vulnerabilities) more than do code audit on a project whose source is available to the black hats. Makes Chinese spies' jobs so much easier. :)
Semaphor 9y ago
I think he knows > It is important to point out that you are extremely unlikely to be penalized for bringing in an encrypted laptop with you to China, as any kind of widespread zealous application of such practice would quickly shut down any business travel to China -- and this is definitely not in the government's interest.
- gtirloni 9y ago
  It seems like a rational argument (about the consequences of adopting such policy) but looking at the US as a live example, is that really happening? In the US's case, it might mean that the world depends too much on it and has to put up with draconian policies.
  - Klover 9y ago
    It seems to indeed be more that China is up and coming, while the US is declining. Remember how the US used to be friendly to immigrants and prided itself on its diversity? Well, now everyone's already there, everyone speaks English and there hasn't been an internal war in a while. It's like it grew fat and is now hibernating on that. Just a wild guess, but like many people have said in this discussion: I find it pleasant to go to China, but I have to be paid to go to the US. Hopefully the US will sort itself out and people can be happy visitors again, and not simply go there because it's normal to do so.
Taniwha 9y ago
I completely agree, I've entered China about a dozen times in the past year - always a smile, polite, efficient. Never had my bags looked at or questioned. The US is quite different, far from welcoming, it's scary, so many bad stories of things happening, the immigration people trend to scowl (they must be under so much pressure) they take your photos, your fingerprints (not entering China) ... honestly, as much as I love the US, it's my home I've spent half my adult life there, I'm not going out of my way to visit these days
baby 9y ago
The UK border was OK in comparison to the USA.

by chvid 9y ago

tluyben2 9y ago

I was going to say this: US and UK are far worse. Heathrow is so bad that I rather take an Uber from or to another airport. I have been going to all three quite a lot the past 3 years.

jldugger 9y ago

The author is the IT security person for the Linux Foundation, who's activities include distributing the Linux kernel via kernel.org. They represent a particularly juicy target for nation-state actors, and have been targeted with reasonably advanced attacks before. In 2015 the author published a checklist for laptop security, this is just an extension of that, teaching people (and LF employees) how to comply with their policies and China's. Are they likely to be hassled at the border? No. But if there's a way to make all parties happy, might as well document it.

est 9y ago
LMAO. Sounds like Redhat couldn't even dare setup a R&D center in China. Seriously if you frequent kernel mail lists you can see tons of Chinese participating in OOS.
alecco 9y ago
If I were him I would go with a burner laptop and wouldn't take with me any digital credentials.
- mricon 9y ago
  That's the TL;DR of the article. ;)
nickpsecurity 9y ago
"who's activities include distributing the Linux kernel via kernel.org. They represent a particularly juicy target for nation-state actors" If they really cared, they wouldn't host it on Linux. It would be OpenBSD or something with every software measure possible on read-only storage that admin physically replaces. That's just to start with. It's good that the author is taking measures but it gets amusing how much risk they keep on distribution side when you bring up nation-states going after them. Most big ones have 0-days for Linux systems anyway. They just use them in a targeted fashion to get more ROI from them. China can probably hit anyone working for Linux Foundation if they wanted to outside some really, paranoid setups that might exist. They just don't since they don't care about them. They're 100% unimportant to Chinese intelligence. What is important is the source code of the kernel and privileged software which are freely available. If anything, letting Linux development and distribution continue is a good thing for Chinese intelligence since developers add features (and vulnerabilities) more than do code audit on a project whose source is available to the black hats. Makes Chinese spies' jobs so much easier. :)

Semaphor 9y ago

I think he knows > It is important to point out that you are extremely unlikely to be penalized for bringing in an encrypted laptop with you to China, as any kind of widespread zealous application of such practice would quickly shut down any business travel to China -- and this is definitely not in the government's interest.

gtirloni 9y ago
It seems like a rational argument (about the consequences of adopting such policy) but looking at the US as a live example, is that really happening? In the US's case, it might mean that the world depends too much on it and has to put up with draconian policies.
- Klover 9y ago
  It seems to indeed be more that China is up and coming, while the US is declining. Remember how the US used to be friendly to immigrants and prided itself on its diversity? Well, now everyone's already there, everyone speaks English and there hasn't been an internal war in a while. It's like it grew fat and is now hibernating on that. Just a wild guess, but like many people have said in this discussion: I find it pleasant to go to China, but I have to be paid to go to the US. Hopefully the US will sort itself out and people can be happy visitors again, and not simply go there because it's normal to do so.

Taniwha 9y ago

I completely agree, I've entered China about a dozen times in the past year - always a smile, polite, efficient. Never had my bags looked at or questioned. The US is quite different, far from welcoming, it's scary, so many bad stories of things happening, the immigration people trend to scowl (they must be under so much pressure) they take your photos, your fingerprints (not entering China) ... honestly, as much as I love the US, it's my home I've spent half my adult life there, I'm not going out of my way to visit these days

baby 9y ago

The UK border was OK in comparison to the USA.