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Everyone's saying "remember PRISM!" but that's not how I remember it. PRISM (which now even has a wikipedia page[0]) was an interface for the NSA to browse thei

Everyone's saying "remember PRISM!" but that's not how I remember it. PRISM (which now even has a wikipedia page[0]) was an interface for the NSA to browse their legally obtained FISA data from these companies. Now, I hate the FISA laws in general, but I don't think it comes as any surprise that the tech companies were following the law. I remember the furor on HN at the time, and to my recollection a lot of the allegations were about backdoors for the NSA into their data and such, and that's what the companies denied. Looking at Google's statement[1] of the time, I'm not sure I can find any fault with it? To me, the big revelations from Snowden were about the NSA capturing all data on the internet backbone, and tapping unencrypted links inside Google's network without their knowledge. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) [1] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/what.html https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/what.html

Salamat 8y ago
But both "Apple and Amazon are denying a report claiming spy chips from China were found in hardware they use. According to a report by Bloomberg, tiny microchips were found on motherboards of servers assembled by the San Jose company Super Micro Computer. An official cited anonymously by Bloomberg said the supply chain-level breach affected almost 30 companies, including Amazon Web Services and Apple. In a statement published Thursday, Apple denied the Bloomberg report, claiming malicious chips were never uncovered. "We are deeply disappointed that in their dealings with us, Bloomberg’s reporters have not been open to the possibility that they or their sources might be wrong or misinformed," read Apple's statement. Amazon called the report "erroneous" in a blog post published Thursday. "At no time, past or present, have we ever found any issues relating to modified hardware or malicious chips in Super Micro motherboards in any Elemental or Amazon systems," the company said. In a statement released Thursday, Bloomberg News said the story required more than a year of reporting and more than 100 interviews. They also said 17 individual sources confirmed the manipulated hardware."
toyg 8y ago
And compromising hardware in transit, which is basically the same thing the Chinese have done with Supermicro - just one step further upstream. It’s a bad world, everyone is at it, nobody can be trusted blindly.
acct1771 8y ago
FISA et al are unconstitutional. You're doing nobody any favors by referring to it as legitimate.
- daeken 8y ago
  They never said that they're legitimate, simply that they're legal. Until it's overturned by a court or legislation, that remains absolutely true.

Salamat 8y ago

But both "Apple and Amazon are denying a report claiming spy chips from China were found in hardware they use. According to a report by Bloomberg, tiny microchips were found on motherboards of servers assembled by the San Jose company Super Micro Computer. An official cited anonymously by Bloomberg said the supply chain-level breach affected almost 30 companies, including Amazon Web Services and Apple. In a statement published Thursday, Apple denied the Bloomberg report, claiming malicious chips were never uncovered. "We are deeply disappointed that in their dealings with us, Bloomberg’s reporters have not been open to the possibility that they or their sources might be wrong or misinformed," read Apple's statement. Amazon called the report "erroneous" in a blog post published Thursday. "At no time, past or present, have we ever found any issues relating to modified hardware or malicious chips in Super Micro motherboards in any Elemental or Amazon systems," the company said. In a statement released Thursday, Bloomberg News said the story required more than a year of reporting and more than 100 interviews. They also said 17 individual sources confirmed the manipulated hardware."

toyg 8y ago

And compromising hardware in transit, which is basically the same thing the Chinese have done with Supermicro - just one step further upstream. It’s a bad world, everyone is at it, nobody can be trusted blindly.

acct1771 8y ago

FISA et al are unconstitutional. You're doing nobody any favors by referring to it as legitimate.

daeken 8y ago
They never said that they're legitimate, simply that they're legal. Until it's overturned by a court or legislation, that remains absolutely true.