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

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."

2 of 270 comments (clear)

  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.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. 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.