6 ms·

OK... wait, why is it illegal to sell hard drives to the government of China?

by jrochkind1 4y ago

himinlomax 4y ago
Because they're a tyrannical and genocidal organisation?
- xtian 4y ago
  [flagged]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- markozjovanovic 4y ago
  Ok, but what about China?
  - NLPaep 4y ago
    Do you like being able to comment whatever you want about the government?
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      Hell, do you like posting pictures of a fictional bear without being treated as a criminal?
- rchaud 4y ago
  If that was the criteria, American exports would be in the toilet. It's because China is a competitor. All the other bad actors are too rinky-dink to worry about.
  - himinlomax 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - rchaud 4y ago
      Yes, the Politburo has updated its editorial guidelines so its agents on HN can now explicitly refer to China as a "bad actor".
  - DrThunder 4y ago
    It's both, because both are a threat to our standard of living. This is obvious. The question for you is why you would prefer to lower our standard of living and become subservient to a communist led genocidal government? Does that sound like a good path to go down?
AlexCoventry 4y ago
The US is trying to avoid repeating the mistake it made with the USSR of allowing a hostile nation to buy its way to a modern industrial/technology base.
- tivert 4y ago
  > The US is trying to avoid repeating the mistake it made with the USSR of allowing a hostile nation to buy its way to a modern industrial/technology base. As far as I'm aware, the US didn't make that mistake with the USSR. IIRC, it was always under pretty strict export controls. IMHO, if the US allowed to any country to "buy its way to a modern industrial/technology base" that country was China.
  - Longlius 4y ago
    There's a somewhat famous (possibly apocryphal?) story about the USSR's campaign to get its hand on American minicomputers to reverse engineer. The CIA would intercept shipments they suspected were being sold to the Soviets and fill the boxes with rocks before sending them along to be picked up by KGB agents in South America. Ultimately the Soviets did end up procuring a few western machines and reverse-engineering them. This is a look at one such machine - essentially a desktop PDP-11 used by the Soviet nuclear power industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EWsWxObjA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EWsWxObjA
    - dboreham 4y ago
      There were pdp-11s everywhere in the 1970s, and the designs were published (I have the schematics in my desk drawer here on microfiche). They were built from off the shelf TTL chips that again could be bought everywhere (things like UARTs often did use an LSI chip, bit harder to get hold of but still readily available) So it's inconceivable that a state level actor couldn't easily produce clones, even without ever having seen one! All the stories about "campaign to get its hand on American minicomputers" etc is theater.
      - tivert 4y ago

OK... wait, why is it illegal to sell hard drives to the government of China?

himinlomax 4y ago

Because they're a tyrannical and genocidal organisation?

xtian 4y ago
[flagged]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
markozjovanovic 4y ago
Ok, but what about China?
- NLPaep 4y ago
  Do you like being able to comment whatever you want about the government?
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    Hell, do you like posting pictures of a fictional bear without being treated as a criminal?
rchaud 4y ago
If that was the criteria, American exports would be in the toilet. It's because China is a competitor. All the other bad actors are too rinky-dink to worry about.
- himinlomax 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - rchaud 4y ago
    Yes, the Politburo has updated its editorial guidelines so its agents on HN can now explicitly refer to China as a "bad actor".
- DrThunder 4y ago
  It's both, because both are a threat to our standard of living. This is obvious. The question for you is why you would prefer to lower our standard of living and become subservient to a communist led genocidal government? Does that sound like a good path to go down?

AlexCoventry 4y ago

The US is trying to avoid repeating the mistake it made with the USSR of allowing a hostile nation to buy its way to a modern industrial/technology base.

tivert 4y ago
> The US is trying to avoid repeating the mistake it made with the USSR of allowing a hostile nation to buy its way to a modern industrial/technology base. As far as I'm aware, the US didn't make that mistake with the USSR. IIRC, it was always under pretty strict export controls. IMHO, if the US allowed to any country to "buy its way to a modern industrial/technology base" that country was China.
- Longlius 4y ago
  There's a somewhat famous (possibly apocryphal?) story about the USSR's campaign to get its hand on American minicomputers to reverse engineer. The CIA would intercept shipments they suspected were being sold to the Soviets and fill the boxes with rocks before sending them along to be picked up by KGB agents in South America. Ultimately the Soviets did end up procuring a few western machines and reverse-engineering them. This is a look at one such machine - essentially a desktop PDP-11 used by the Soviet nuclear power industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EWsWxObjA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EWsWxObjA
  - dboreham 4y ago
    There were pdp-11s everywhere in the 1970s, and the designs were published (I have the schematics in my desk drawer here on microfiche). They were built from off the shelf TTL chips that again could be bought everywhere (things like UARTs often did use an LSI chip, bit harder to get hold of but still readily available) So it's inconceivable that a state level actor couldn't easily produce clones, even without ever having seen one! All the stories about "campaign to get its hand on American minicomputers" etc is theater.
    - tivert 4y ago