9 ms·
So a Unity owned bloatware company being used by Samsung is now somehow controversial because it was founded in Israel? Am i reading this right?
by hersko 11mo ago
So a Unity owned bloatware company being used by Samsung is now somehow controversial because it was founded in Israel? Am i reading this right?
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- dogma1138 11mo ago[flagged]
- tehjoker 11mo agoAs a Jew, the soon as I hear "Israel" and "App" I think of Pegasus. In this genocide, the Israeli government has shown it will cross any line. Remember the pager attack? So I would like there to be zero Israeli controlled products anywhere near me. That plus everyone should be engaged in boycotts divestment and sanctions against the regime.
- trollbridge 11mo agoAnd as someone who worked for multiple cyber firms out of Israel… it’s entirely reasonable to double-check that apps from Israeli firms don’t have a dual purpose to feed data to Western intelligence agencies.
- vladgur 11mo ago[flagged]
- ngcazz 11mo ago[flagged]
- hersko 11mo ago[flagged]
- tehjoker 11mo agoThe resistance and the resilience of the Palestinian people have prevented their ethnic cleansing. This is not because Israel isn't trying as hard as it can within the bounds the international community is allowing.
- baked_beanz 11mo agoEthnic cleansing involves forcible expulsion of a population -- not just mass killing -- with the goal of achieving cultural or racial homogeneity in a given territory. Israel is guilty of both the forcible expulsion and mass killing of Palestinians, so the definition certainly applies.
- wahnfrieden 11mo agoWhy are you obfuscating the concern? The issue is not that it is an app that is popularly found on devices! The issue is that it is an app which is forcibly installed without consent or disclosure, which has privileged access to the system and beyond the scope of the device vendor. To have no care for that reeks suspiciously of nationalistic bias. edit: Please answer: Which country has backdoor control of the phones via this app?
- vladgur 11mo ago[flagged]
- wahnfrieden 11mo agoWhy are you obfuscating the concern? Bloatware does not accurately describe remote control backdoor access. Which country has backdoor control of the phones via this app?
- vladgur 11mo agoI read through the linked article and an article on smex.org and there was nothing about "remote control backdoor access". It complains about inability to uninstall from the manufacturers handset which is a manufacturers decision. Again both articles manufacture controversy simply by nature that the Appcloud is associated with an Israeli company, not by what the app actually does or not by the fact that nobody forced Samsung to install this app on their handsets. If you have information showing that Samsung is selling phones that are remote controlled by another government or corporate actor, that would be extremely newsworthy. Please share these news when you find them
- dogma1138 11mo ago[flagged]
- tehjoker 11mo agoIt's antisemetic to question whether someone is Jewish based on their disdain for genocide.
- thenaturalist 11mo ago[flagged]
- myth_drannon 11mo ago[flagged]
- calgoo 11mo agoOr there is a history of shady companies doing shady things, and the one that this app is related to, has done shady things in the past, so people are nervous about this app doing shady things.
- myth_drannon 11mo ago[flagged]
- aagha 11mo ago[flagged]
- tptacek 11mo agoPlease don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that". https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- alephnerd 11mo agoThat's not the controversy based on the article - it's arguing that because the app is Israeli in origin, it may run afoul of local BDS laws thus another reason for AppCloud to be removed from local device, which is notable because the AppCloud app only appears to be installed on African, Asian, and MENA Samsung phones, where the bulk of countries with BDS laws exist. The article doesn't appear to take a side one way or the other in the conflict, it's just listing a potential compliance issue.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- myth_drannon 11mo agoThere is no such thing as BDS laws, only anti-BDS laws. Some muslim countries boycott Israeli-made products, But since Israel is a tech powerhouse only behind the US, almost every tech is Israeli-made at least partially, so again, trying to enforce any boycott is stupid.
- churchill 11mo ago[dead]
- null_deref 11mo agoBDS is a western concept, legal laws banning business with Israel in the Middle East precede it.
- fn-mote 11mo agoTo HN readers, the controversy is likely this: > the program was found to be quietly invasive as it allows the installer to install programs on the user’s device without permission. It circumvents the user validation process and successfully bypasses multiple security checks, including antivirus programs I agree that the headline “controversy” is manufactured.
- asacrowflies 11mo agoSeems reasonable. Same way "Russian" companies are shady. Doesn't matter if they do something inane . This is really basic geopolitics that only had a short respite... Like less than 30 year period as cold war slowed. This is very normal.
- MomsAVoxell 11mo ago[flagged]
- vladgur 11mo ago[flagged]
- MomsAVoxell 11mo ago[flagged]
- hersko 11mo ago[flagged]
- MomsAVoxell 11mo agoLiterally a violation of Common Article 3; GC I Art. 12 & 18; GC III Art. 13; GC IV Arts. 27, 32 & 51; AP I Arts. 48, 51(2–5), 57 & 54; CCW Amended Protocol II Art. 7(2) of the Geneva Conventions. Common Article 3 was breached by carrying out lethal attacks against persons taking no active part in hostilities (including off-duty medics and civilians) without individual assessment; GC I Articles 12 and 18 were violated when medical personnel and facilities were hit by exploding devices carried by wounded or off-duty health workers; GC III Article 13 was infringed because many victims instantly became hors de combat through injury yet were subjected to further maiming by shrapnel designed to cause maximum harm; GC IV Articles 27, 32 and 51 were contravened by the indiscriminate killing and mutilation of civilians (including children and bystanders) and by imposing collective punishment through mass, simultaneous detonation regardless of individual status; Additional Protocol I Articles 48, 51(2–5), 57 and 54 were violated through the failure to distinguish combatants from civilians, the inherently indiscriminate and disproportionate nature of detonating thousands of devices in populated areas, and the use of treachery/perfidious means to kill; finally, Amended Protocol II to the CCW Article 7(2) was directly breached by transforming ordinary civilian pagers into prohibited booby-traps specifically designed and constructed to contain concealed explosives. The use of treachery/perfidious means to kill is particularly disturbing, since it sets the precedent for similar means to be used in retaliation, very likely to result in yet more unjustifiable acts of terror.
- EA-3167 11mo ago[flagged]
- paxys 11mo agoRTFA > The presence of an Israeli-origin technology component on Samsung phones in WANA countries poses additional problems. Several nations in this region legally bar Israeli companies from operating, and in light of the ongoing Israel–Palestine conflict, the preload of an app tied to such a company becomes even more contentious. So yes, the presence of Israeli software is a problem in many countries, and may even be illegal.
- dogma1138 11mo agoI’ll wager there is a bit more Israeli tech in those phones than some adware.
- _DeadFred_ 11mo agoOr a heck of a lot of non-phone tech as well.
- xenospn 11mo agoApple's A/M-series chips are designed in Israel. My guess is no one is banning iPhones.
- KingLancelot 11mo ago[dead]
- Centigonal 11mo agoFrom Stuxnet to Pegasus to the 2024 pager attack, Israel has a history of leveraging its tech sector to advance its national security aims through clandestine means (this is not unusual: so does the US, and so does China). If you're a country with not-so-friendly relations with Israel, the company being founded in Israel is absolutely pertinent.
- Un1corn 11mo agoWhich _Israeli_ companies were used for Stuxnet or the 2024 pager attack? NSO is not the same as the company from the article since it's explicitly a cyber company.
- MomsAVoxell 11mo agoThe more relevant question is, which Israeli companies are currently not involved in covert military operations? The difficulty in comprehending an answer to this question is precisely why allowing ones military to perform such actions using covert means is so dangerous for a civilian population to support. War is supposed to be fought in the open in order to protect the civilians. I suppose when the distinction between soldier and civilian is not so easy to make, the profligate mindset which allows covert, indiscriminate mass murder at scale becomes a norm.
- HappyPanacea 11mo ago[flagged]
- MomsAVoxell 11mo agoThe question is a straw man fallacy in an attempt to distract from the fact that Shin Bet/Mossad, both Israeli organizations, used multiple company cutouts to weaponize the supply chain of civilian infrastructure in order to commit acts of perfidy in violation of the Geneva Convention.. of course they’re not going to set up “SababaTech”, headquartered in Tel Aviv, to do this dirty work. The perfidious nature of this act required them to involve Hungary, among other nations. Where the question “which Israeli companies are involved in committing Israels war crimes?” needs to be answered, is at the ICC - not here on HN. (Unless the question is being answered by a whistleblower, of course..)
- computerex 11mo agoUhhhh, not sure about you, but I wouldn't want anything Israeli within 10m of my phone.
- tguvot 11mo agoyou probably need to throw away your phone. or something. because never mind of it apple/qualcomm/android/etc - one of R&D centers that all companies have in Israel developed part of it.
- wahnfrieden 11mo agoThe controversy is Israeli remote control over all these phones. Not Israeli R&D contributing to a component. Edit: I know what they wrote
- tguvot 11mo agoparent said "anything israeli". phones are partially israeli. including baseband firmware and stuff.
- computerex 11mo agoDo you have a source?
- tguvot 11mo agoFor what? That all major companies have r&d center (or few) in Israel? Nvidia for example tripples size of one of the offices now (out of seven i think) and builds new campus in different city
- thenaturalist 11mo agoROFL. Best step up to your words and throw away your phone then. All major tech companies and chip manufacturers have R&D and design centers in Israel.
- 11mo ago
- woodpanel 11mo agoYep. The First thing that popped into my head, was - is this a problem because of bloatware in general? Or… - because its Israeli bloatware? If the latter, I would understand your discomfort because of past security intrusions by Israeli companies. But not if it’s just „IsRa-HeLl bAd“