4 ms·

It’s presumably easier to detect a bug in a watch that shouldn’t have one than to verify that a watch whose design includes recording the owner isn’t doing so s

It’s presumably easier to detect a bug in a watch that shouldn’t have one than to verify that a watch whose design includes recording the owner isn’t doing so surreptitiously.

rayiner 2y ago
That assumes the department modifying those watches isn’t adding a bug. I’d trust a stock Apple Watch more than one modified by the spooks: https://www.politico.eu/article/when-the-cia-infiltrated-a-presidential-campaign-barry-goldwater-lyndon-johnson-howard-hunt/ https://www.politico.eu/article/when-the-cia-infiltrated-a-p...
- woodruffw 2y ago
  I think the article is mostly about foreign concerns, not domestic ones. But even so: I'll go ahead and speculate that the US's intelligence services don't need to go to the trouble of putting a bug in a mechanical watch to know what VPOTUS is saying. (This is all for the sake of argument, since I don't think even the underlying premise is true: the US IC has as-good or better access to iOS, etc. 0days than any other intelligence community.)
  - Rastonbury 2y ago
    Charitable interpretation of the comment. I thought the person was implying the White House engraver is susceptible to being infiltrated or influenced by North Korea to install a mic and battery into the VPs watch, what spy movie is this?
    - snailmailstare 2y ago
      Why North Korea? Germany still owes the US a friendly tap..
      - snailmailstare 2y ago
        What spy movie is this from? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6622476 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6622476
- thinkingemote 2y ago
  All the major technology companies have special isolated security clearance offices. Most regular employees including managers and directors do not and cannot know what's going on in those places. Secrecy is priority. In the US it's a requirement to never discuss security clearance if you have security clearance. The banal non-conspiracy explanation is these employees work for military and government clients on regular products but with their classified data.
- MonkeyClub 2y ago
  > I’d trust a stock Apple Watch more than one modified by the spooks People have been known to trust stock pagers more, to their detriment. The level of deception the game is played at nowadays is unimaginable, stock or bespoke solutions aside.
- talldayo 2y ago
  > I’d trust a stock Apple Watch more than one modified by the spooks All Apple Watches include an NSA bug by default and if you didn't expect this from the get-go frankly you are a moron: https://www.xstore.co.za/stuff/2024/01/kaspersky-finds-hardware-backdoor-in-5-generations-of-apple-silicon/ https://www.xstore.co.za/stuff/2024/01/kaspersky-finds-hardw... Trusting any Apple hardware is what pseuds do to prove that they don't actually care about privacy or security. That's what this goddamn article is about in the first place...

It’s presumably easier to detect a bug in a watch that shouldn’t have one than to verify that a watch whose design includes recording the owner isn’t doing so surreptitiously.

rayiner 2y ago

That assumes the department modifying those watches isn’t adding a bug. I’d trust a stock Apple Watch more than one modified by the spooks: https://www.politico.eu/article/when-the-cia-infiltrated-a-presidential-campaign-barry-goldwater-lyndon-johnson-howard-hunt/ https://www.politico.eu/article/when-the-cia-infiltrated-a-p...

woodruffw 2y ago
I think the article is mostly about foreign concerns, not domestic ones. But even so: I'll go ahead and speculate that the US's intelligence services don't need to go to the trouble of putting a bug in a mechanical watch to know what VPOTUS is saying. (This is all for the sake of argument, since I don't think even the underlying premise is true: the US IC has as-good or better access to iOS, etc. 0days than any other intelligence community.)
- Rastonbury 2y ago
  Charitable interpretation of the comment. I thought the person was implying the White House engraver is susceptible to being infiltrated or influenced by North Korea to install a mic and battery into the VPs watch, what spy movie is this?
  - snailmailstare 2y ago
    Why North Korea? Germany still owes the US a friendly tap..
    - snailmailstare 2y ago
      What spy movie is this from? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6622476 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6622476
thinkingemote 2y ago
All the major technology companies have special isolated security clearance offices. Most regular employees including managers and directors do not and cannot know what's going on in those places. Secrecy is priority. In the US it's a requirement to never discuss security clearance if you have security clearance. The banal non-conspiracy explanation is these employees work for military and government clients on regular products but with their classified data.
MonkeyClub 2y ago
> I’d trust a stock Apple Watch more than one modified by the spooks People have been known to trust stock pagers more, to their detriment. The level of deception the game is played at nowadays is unimaginable, stock or bespoke solutions aside.
talldayo 2y ago
> I’d trust a stock Apple Watch more than one modified by the spooks All Apple Watches include an NSA bug by default and if you didn't expect this from the get-go frankly you are a moron: https://www.xstore.co.za/stuff/2024/01/kaspersky-finds-hardware-backdoor-in-5-generations-of-apple-silicon/ https://www.xstore.co.za/stuff/2024/01/kaspersky-finds-hardw... Trusting any Apple hardware is what pseuds do to prove that they don't actually care about privacy or security. That's what this goddamn article is about in the first place...