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What strikes me after this revelation is how unique the United States is, because: (a) it has dozens of companies that create technology the rest of the world

by r0h1n 12y ago

What strikes me after this revelation is how unique the United States is, because: (a) it has dozens of companies that create technology the rest of the world uses, and (b) it has a govt. that secretly works to undermine the technology developed by those companies. You're not going to hear about many foreign govt's actively hacking their country's software products, simply because they could easily/secretly armtwist cos. into installing backdoors at the beginning. Take China for instance - do we think it needs to hack into, say, Huawei phones or Wechat? I don't think so. As a foreigner, that is why this "fight" between US software cos. and its govt. is so fascinating. It's made possible through a unique combination of capital, freedom and history. And I hope it remains that way, for the sake of the rest of the world too.

flyryan 12y ago
Your example isn't a particular good one. Huawei has been accused of backdooring their products for the Chinese government on numerous occasions, including presentations at DEFCON exposing those backdoors. There are also numerous cases of backdoors in Chinese cell phones.
- lawnchair_larry 12y ago
  But his point was that China's government doesn't attack the company to get those.
  - wavefunction 12y ago
    How do we know how any putative arrangement of this type has come to be?
- lucio 12y ago
  That's exactly what he's saying: "You're not going to hear about many foreign govt's actively hacking their country's software products, simply because they could easily/secretly armtwist cos. into installing backdoors at the beginning"
task_queue 12y ago
Not a peep was made while the intelligence community got in bed with tech companies. It was mutually beneficial and still is. The only reason you're hearing about this is because it's good PR for Apple, after their intimate relations with the security apparatus were exposed.
- _cudgel 12y ago
  Could you point us at that exposure? I'd like to read it.

by r0h1n 12y ago

flyryan 12y ago

Your example isn't a particular good one. Huawei has been accused of backdooring their products for the Chinese government on numerous occasions, including presentations at DEFCON exposing those backdoors. There are also numerous cases of backdoors in Chinese cell phones.

lawnchair_larry 12y ago
But his point was that China's government doesn't attack the company to get those.
- wavefunction 12y ago
  How do we know how any putative arrangement of this type has come to be?
lucio 12y ago
That's exactly what he's saying: "You're not going to hear about many foreign govt's actively hacking their country's software products, simply because they could easily/secretly armtwist cos. into installing backdoors at the beginning"

task_queue 12y ago

Not a peep was made while the intelligence community got in bed with tech companies. It was mutually beneficial and still is. The only reason you're hearing about this is because it's good PR for Apple, after their intimate relations with the security apparatus were exposed.

_cudgel 12y ago
Could you point us at that exposure? I'd like to read it.