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The monopolistic position of qualcomm has not only perhaps driven up prices, but of even greater concern, has created a single point of failure for phone se

by jMyles 7y ago

The monopolistic position of qualcomm has ~~not only~~ perhaps driven up prices, but of even greater concern, has created a single point of failure for phone security. I have concerns that, even as full device encryption has evolved and many of us have moved communication to more secure media (Signal, Riot, etc), the very baseband chip of the phone is still acting like a bug in our homes.

tooltalk 7y ago
> The monopolistic position of qualcomm has not only driven up prices, What is your evidence of such claim?
- jMyles 7y ago
  I think that a monopolistic shake down of this nature is always connected to price increases, but you're right that I don't have specific evidence. And in any case, my comment is not about prices, but about security.
ksec 7y ago
>The monopolistic position of qualcomm has not only driven up prices There has been no evidence as such. Even in court.
- jMyles 7y ago
  Fine, I added a "perhaps" - my real point was about spying, not prices.
  - ksec 7y ago
    And it is not a single point of failure either. Huawei, Samsung, Mediatek, all have their own modem, as well as Spreatrum ( It has a new name I can't even remember ) , and Xiaomi and Soon, Apple. I know a lot of people hate Qualcomm, but reading the 230 pages of the report I cant help but felt sorry for them.
    - jMyles 7y ago
      > I know a lot of people hate Qualcomm, but reading the 230 pages of the report I cant help but felt sorry for them. They had a special opportunity to take a lead role in protecting the American public from being victimized by criminal behavior within the NSA and they chose to side with the criminals instead of the victims. What's to feel sorry for?
      - ksec 7y ago
        >They had a special opportunity to take a lead role in protecting the American public from being victimized by criminal behavior within the NSA and they chose to side with the criminals instead of the victims. And where is that from?
        jMyles 7y ago
        By safeguarding against Smurf Suite. And by blowing the whistle every time gangsters show up and want to use a baseband chip to abuse people. They had an opportunity in June 2013 to say, "we're aware of the former intelligence chief James Clapper's acknowledgement that his March 2013 testimony to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was erroneous ; we are taking every action possible to thwart efforts by the NSA to collect information about our users as described in his recent letter and as disclosed last month by Edward Snowden." At a time when many people (including some members of Congress) were hoping that Clapper was going to be prosecuted for perjury and the entire regime of illegal spying was going to be provable undone, Qualcomm, a potentially huge contributor to safety of the public, did and said nearly nothing.

The monopolistic position of qualcomm has ~~not only~~ perhaps driven up prices, but of even greater concern, has created a single point of failure for phone se

by jMyles 7y ago

tooltalk 7y ago

> The monopolistic position of qualcomm has not only driven up prices, What is your evidence of such claim?

jMyles 7y ago
I think that a monopolistic shake down of this nature is always connected to price increases, but you're right that I don't have specific evidence. And in any case, my comment is not about prices, but about security.

ksec 7y ago

>The monopolistic position of qualcomm has not only driven up prices There has been no evidence as such. Even in court.

jMyles 7y ago
Fine, I added a "perhaps" - my real point was about spying, not prices.
- ksec 7y ago
  And it is not a single point of failure either. Huawei, Samsung, Mediatek, all have their own modem, as well as Spreatrum ( It has a new name I can't even remember ) , and Xiaomi and Soon, Apple. I know a lot of people hate Qualcomm, but reading the 230 pages of the report I cant help but felt sorry for them.
  - jMyles 7y ago
    > I know a lot of people hate Qualcomm, but reading the 230 pages of the report I cant help but felt sorry for them. They had a special opportunity to take a lead role in protecting the American public from being victimized by criminal behavior within the NSA and they chose to side with the criminals instead of the victims. What's to feel sorry for?
    - ksec 7y ago
      >They had a special opportunity to take a lead role in protecting the American public from being victimized by criminal behavior within the NSA and they chose to side with the criminals instead of the victims. And where is that from?
      - jMyles 7y ago
        By safeguarding against Smurf Suite. And by blowing the whistle every time gangsters show up and want to use a baseband chip to abuse people. They had an opportunity in June 2013 to say, "we're aware of the former intelligence chief James Clapper's acknowledgement that his March 2013 testimony to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was erroneous ; we are taking every action possible to thwart efforts by the NSA to collect information about our users as described in his recent letter and as disclosed last month by Edward Snowden." At a time when many people (including some members of Congress) were hoping that Clapper was going to be prosecuted for perjury and the entire regime of illegal spying was going to be provable undone, Qualcomm, a potentially huge contributor to safety of the public, did and said nearly nothing.