Hmmm, it's almost like all this sensor-loaded, networked hardware, whose signing keys are held abroad, could be realistically adapted for intelligence-gathering

Hmmm, it's almost like all this sensor-loaded, networked hardware, whose signing keys are held abroad, could be realistically adapted for intelligence-gathering by a push of a few buttons if a government the company couldn't blow off compelled it so, but if a script kiddie hacked them for entertainment it could still be pretty bad. It's really not that different from the FUD about Kaspersky [1] or the still-ongoing saga of Huawei. In the past, such capability had to be deliberately planted at great effort, while these days we buy it voluntarily and spread it in our homes and businesses, fly them above our cities, and put them in networking closets to sit in the middle of all of our communication. Sure it's FUD, but it's the government and military coming to terms with the implications of what just happened, and trying to shape the future to lessen a risk. This is orthogonal to whether they want the exact same capability for friendly-made goods, or whether there's any industry of comparable domestic goods left. Other countries, when they have a spare moment after dealing with domestic needs, are also well within their rights to feel the same kind of unease about Cisco, Juniper, Intel... hell, Tesla? Have you seen the number of cameras on that thing, and the fact that it can drive on its own? This is the evolution of 'loose lips sink ships', where the capability of people to spread information has multiplied, but soon people won't even be necessary for information to be disclosed. Their consumer goods will do it for them. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17193172#17193475 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17193172#17193475