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It's Official: NSA Spying Is Hurting the US Tech Economy

Posted by samzenpus on from the who's-to-blame dept.

An anonymous reader writes China is backing away from U.S. tech brands for state purchases after NSA revelations, according to Reuters. This confirms what many U.S. technology companies have been saying for the past year: the activities by the NSA are harming their businesses in crucial growth markets, including China. From the article: "A new report confirmed key brands, including Cisco, Apple, Intel, and McAfee -- among others -- have been dropped from the Chinese government's list of authorized brands, a Reuters report said Wednesday. The number of approved foreign technology brands fell by a third, based on an analysis of the procurement list. Less than half of those companies with security products remain on the list."

5 of 270 comments (clear)

  1. This is hilarious... by duck_rifted · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I like how they pretend that this was only just revealed to them when so many products by those brands are assembled in China, and the backdoors are installed at the factory (according to recent news). They knew this all along, so they're not doing this for security reasons. They're doing it so that US businesses will pressure the NSA to stop, and then if it succeeds, China will have the upper hand in espionage.

    In every other conceivable respect, this isn't funny at all. It's just that they think we'll fall for that, and for the most part, we are. But neither these businesses nor the NSA will. The end result will be that China will start buying these products again and it will be spun to us as the result of some kind of breakthrough negotiation. I give it a year, but they might pull a headline grabber and make it happen sooner if it was primarily a bid for lower prices all along.

    1. Re:This is hilarious... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Do you have any proof that China systematically back-doors hardware before it leaves the country? I have not seen any, just lots of innuendo from US companies trying to make out that China is as bad as they are and you are screwed either way.

      The US is exceptionally bad. It spends more money spying on people than anyone else. It has more extensive programmes than anyone else we know of, except perhaps the UK who they are close partners with. Let's not pretend that everyone is as bad, because they are not. There is zero evidence that China installs backdoors in routers or hard drive firmware before they go through customs, for example, while we have photos of the US doing it.

      China is bad, but all the evidence suggests that the US is worse. Most of us prefer an evidence based approach to our paranoia.

      --
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  2. Re:Good by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    and now that everyone 'knows' the nsa has exceeded their charter, the problem will be fixed and all will return to normal.

    no? you don't agree?

    neither do I! we'll NEVER be able to know, for sure, if they have disbanded, continued or even increased their hidden powers.

    they can say 'ok, you caught us, we'll start following the law again' but even congresscritters won't know for sure. anyone who does know for sure, will NOT be telling us any truth about it, either.

    so, what do you have from this? complete and permanent lack of trust in the three letter agencies in the US, and the equivalent ones overseas in pretty much every country.

    why even talk about this anymore? those that have this power won't ever give it up, we will continue to be kept in the dark and nothing will change for the better.

    cat is out of the bag, won't get back in and now we all have to live with cats, everywhere. so to to speak.

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  3. Re:What's the alternative? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You got it backwards. If I have to choose someone who will spy on me, I want it to be a country as far away as possible, one that I will never get near. I don't give two shits about the Chinese knowing something about me, it's my own government I'm worried about. I'd have to piss off China really badly for them to throw me into a gulag - it's just too much hassle. For my government, it's as easy as sending a patrol car or two.

  4. Re:Terrorists by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, at least...

    It's funny to watch the whole spiel from across the pond. I know, maybe it's the distance and the loss of resolution distance entails, but I can't really see that much of a difference between those two parties that you have. It's pretty much the same party to me, maybe with a strawberry flavor here and a blueberry flavor there, but slushy is slushy. The basic ingredients are the same crap, the rest is flavoring. Artificial flavoring.

    But yet you see people bicker with an insane drive to ensure that THEIR side of The Party isn't to blame, it's ALL the other side's fault. I look at the whole mess and can only think that you're sitting in a swimming pool with a line splitting it off in the middle, with either side blaming the other one for pissing in the pool but neither even thinking about getting out and draining the water.

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