Apple, Microsoft and Other US Tech Companies Undergoing 'Security Reviews' in China (neowin.net)

An anonymous reader writes: Chinese government is keeping an ever watchful eye on the companies doing business in the country, especially when foreign companies compete with local ones. To that end, the Chinese authorities have begun a security review among many different American technology companies like Apple and others. These, while mostly done out of the public sphere, seem to target issues like encryption and data storage. According to a report from the New York Times (paywalled; alternate source), government representatives have been questioning engineers and executives from different technology companies with regards to these issues for the last nine months. The so-called security reviews are being done by the Cyberspace Administration of China, with the government committee including experts tied to the country's military and security agencies.The Verge has more details.

Comments

Unintended consequences of weakening encryption

[headkase]

Hey, the USA should put back-doors in all encryption solutions! Then China could use them too..

Re:Unintended consequences of weakening encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that China wouldn't use them, but they would definitely not disclose that fact in a public setting. Unlike the US at this point....

Of course this is the result of the US government shooting (and continuing to shoot) itself in the foot on the issue; Other countries and people in general are becoming more weary and distrusting of the US tech industry and the products and services it provides. The linked article on neowin is correct, expect more countries to start making security reviews of US tech industry products and services over this. Long term I'd imagine that the demand for US tech, or anything that the US had involvement in, to drop off due to the untrustworthiness of the US government.

Sadly, even if the US government were to shut up right now, even if they were to come out and say: "Yeah, we were wrong. The idea of backdoors in tech products makes EVERYONE less safe, not more safe, so we are abandoning the idea starting now moving forward." The damage has already been done. It will take decades to regain the trust that was lost over this, and even then it may not ever fully recover. (Given that the entire worldwide industry has some level of blind trust to it.) The US government really needs to wake up and stop this madness before they completely destroy their own tech industry. At the very least, they may not be able to fix the damage that's already been done, but they sure as hell could quit making it worse.

Re:Unintended consequences of weakening encryption

[AmiMoJo]

The only way back for the US now is to do what other countries with regrettable pasts have done: admit and publish everything. Open enquires into all the spying and bugging of American products, get it all out there and show determination to prevent it ever happening again.

Re:Unintended consequences of weakening encryption

[Anonymous Coward]

Other people know the state is their enemy. Took Americans long enough, cuz 'Merica, good guys, fighting those nasty Mooslims. yaddah yaddah.

A country with a $1T surplus

[Anonymous Coward]

Is worried about competition in their domestic market? The civilized world should slap tariffs on them.

Re:A country with a $1T surplus

[malditaenvidia]

The "civilized world" already moved all of its manufacturing there.

Re: A country with a $1T surplus

[Anonymous Coward]

Moved and then outsourced*

AKA, we need to see your source code

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks, now we can reproduce your product.

Re:AKA, we need to see your source code

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Oh yeah? Well, good luck making the actual hardware, you mor.... oh wait.

Re: AKA, we need to see your source code

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit. Go ahead, reproduce something like Scala after seeing its sources.

GAY NIGGERS MOTHER FUCKERS - Security my Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

G_N_A_A (GAY NIG_GER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the first organization which
gathers GAY NIG_GERS from all over America and abroad for one common goal - being GAY NIG_GERS.

Are you GAY ?
Are you a NIG_GER ?
Are you a GAY NIG_GER ?

If you answered "Yes" to any of the above questions, then G_N_A_A (GAY NIG_GER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) might be exactly what you've been looking for!
Join G_N_A_A (GAY NIG_GER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) today, and enjoy all the benefits of being a full-time G_N_A_A member.
G_N_A_A (GAY NIG_GER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the fastest-growing GAY NIG_GER community with THOUSANDS of members all over United States of America. You, too, can be a part of G_N_A_A if you join today!

Why not? It's quick and easy - only 3 simple steps!

First, you have to obtain a copy of GAY NIG_GERS FROM OUTER SPACE THE MOVIE and watch it.

You can watch GAY NIG_GERS FROM OUTER SPACE on Youtube.

Second, you need to succeed in posting a G_N_A_A "first post" on slashdot.org , a popular "news for trolls" website

Third, you need to join the official G_N_A_A irc channel #G_N_A_A on EFNet, and apply for membership.
Talk to one of the ops or any of the other members in the channel to sign up today!

If you are having trouble locating #G_N_A_A, the official GAY NIG_GER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA irc channel, you might be on a wrong irc network. The correct network is EFNet, and you can connect to irc.secsup.org or irc.easynews.com as one of the EFNet servers.
If you do not have an IRC client handy, you are free to use the G_N_A_A Java IRC client by clicking here.

If you have mod points and would like to support G_N_A_A, please moderate this post up.

This post brought to you by Penisbird , a proud member of the G_N_A_A

G_____________________________________naann_______ ________G
N_____________________________nnnaa__nanaaa_______ ________A
A____________________aanana__nannaa_nna_an________ ________Y
A_____________annna_nnnnnan_aan_aa__na__aa________ ________*
G____________nnaana_nnn__nn_aa__nn__na_anaann_MERI CA______N
N___________ana__nn_an___an_aa_anaaannnanaa_______ ________I
A___________aa__ana_nn___nn_nnnnaa___ana__________ ________G
A__________nna__an__na___nn__nnn___SSOCIATION_of__ ________G
G__________ana_naa__an___nnn______________________ ________E
N__________ananan___nn___aan_IGGER________________ ________R
A__________nnna____naa____________________________ ________S
A________nnaa_____anan____________________________ ________*
G________anaannana________________________________ ________A
N________ananaannn_AY_____________________________ ________S
A________ana____nn_________IRC-EFNET-#G_N_A_A________ ________S
A_______nn_____na_________________________________ ________O
*_______aaaan_____________________________________ ________C
Gary Niger gary_niger@G_N_A_A.us G_N_A_A Corporate Headquarters 143 Rolloffle Avenue Tarzana, California 91356
Enid Al-Punjabi enid_al_punjabi@G_N_A_A.us G_N_A_A World Headquarters No.33 Kyutei Bld. 2F, Shinjuku 2-11-7, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan ????????2??11-6
Copyright (c) 2003-2015 Gay NIG_GER Association of America

Ich Bindawalross (London) - G_N_A_A (NYSE: G_N_A_A) Presiden

Re: GAY NIGGERS MOTHER FUCKERS - Security my Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

Medication would help. Never miss it.

Re: GAY NIGGERS MOTHER FUCKERS - Security my Ass

[Anonymous Coward]

Yuor mom would help. I miss her.

Passing is worse than failing

[WoodstockJeff]

Based upon the articles linked, passing these audits would be pretty damning for the companies involved.

Re:Passing is worse than failing

[negRo_slim]

They'll continue to bend over backwards for any corrupt government with a big enough market. It's a race to the bottom for the almighty renminbi.

The greatest feat the government ever pulled....

[Anonymous Coward]

...was convincing the world it doesn't exist. Whoops, wrong quote.

While Snowden's relevalations were important in giving us a small amount of insight into what our government is up to, it's hard to argue that there weren't real damages and implications of that information getting out. Here's one: it allows foreign governments to get away with paranoid mode. Does anyone believe the Chinese government's #1 concern is security? I'm sure it's on the list somewhere but given how business and industry are linked there and information is available for sale at every turn--the government may actually want it for security but you know the officials coming up with this idea are thinking that they be bribed into handing it over..oops, I mean inadvertently make it available to corporations who accidentally leave a stack of fresh red Mao bills and the keys to a new Lexus on the floor with no note. Oops, I mean sell it to them. Ah, what's the difference?

But even without Snowden, this was likely to happen. It's just now it's much easier for the CCP to get away with this sort of behavior and justify it on the world scale. The companies may even buy into some of the nonsense and posturing.

Pull the factory's out

[Joe_Dragon]

Pull the factory's out and china may well be Fucked they can try making there own knock offs but the TPTA will stop that.

Re:Pull the factory's out

[ScentCone]

Pull the factory's out

Pull the factory's what out? What does the factory have that needs pulling out, and out of where? Do many factories have this problem?

Re:Pull the factory's out

[Anonymous Coward]

Not everybody is as fluid in the language as your are, Mr. Buckley.

Now, unless you have something negative to say about China, since that is today's theme, go back to your cave! Try to stay on topic! This is a bashfest!

Re:Pull the factory's out

[ScentCone]

Fluid? I just paused to gape at the extra work done to insert an apostrophe where doing so makes no sense. How can anyone make it out of middle school and end up spending their time on a technically-oriented web site and not have the understanding that there's a difference between the plural and possessive? We all use plural and possessive forms every day while speaking, so the concept isn't foreign to anyone here, even if English isn't their native tongue. Who goes to the extra trouble to deploy an apostrophe when they mean "more than one?" It's baffling. But it only happens because people SEE other people doing it, and the only way to stop the vicious circle of backwards, incorrect use is to point it out.

Re:Pull the factory's out

[Speck'sBacon]

Would it surprise you to find out not every language has plural forms in its language? Japanese is one example.

Re:Pull the factory's out

[gweihir]

Hahahahaha, and how are you going to do that without bankrupting most of the US IT industry?

Re:Pull the factory's out

[ScentCone]

No, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Doesn't change the fact that someone who makes the conscious decision to use the plural form in an English sentence is completely understanding the concept of "plural" ... but then makes the odd choice to go out of their way to drop in a possessive apostrophe? Why go to all of that trouble?

Re:Pull the factory's out

[Anonymous Coward]

Why go to all of that trouble?

Maybe its for the dramatic hysterical reaction you provide.

Thanks, by the way.

Know Text

[Anonymous Coward]

 

You dumbfuck

[Anonymous Coward]

You dumbfuck. China demands front door access. Nothing about this is at all new or surprising. If you put about 20 seconds of thought into it, you'd realize that the only reason the iPhone has been allowed to succeed in China is because Apple has given the Chinese government wholesale access.

Government looting

[Anonymous Coward]

Russians are copycatting Chinese and Indian, and these are copycatting Russians.

Nothing to see here.

Absorbed...

[Danathar]

Xi reportedly concluded that the best path lay somewhere between these two, with the country needing to decide "which things can be imported but have to be secure and controllable," which tech can be "absorbed for re-innovation," and for "which things we must rely on our own strength and indigenous innovation."

"absorbed for re-innovation,"

Sounds like copying to me...

Re:Absorbed...

[balbeir]

It's like re-education for individuals, but for companies. I'm sure they already are building massive camps somewhere.

"Free" FM comes with a cost

[Tintivilus]

The FM Receiver isn't enabled in most phones because the electronics required to use the headset shield as an FM antenna increase crosstalk on the 3.5mm jack. Phones without FM chose to emphasize 3.5mm audio quality over FM radio function.

This is trivially easy to confirm - just check the headset crosstalk numbers on any Android review site. You'll find a bi-modal distribution that correlates to presence of an FM receiver.

Re:"Free" FM comes with a cost

[Danathar]

You posted to the wrong story!

Someday

[thrasher thetic]

If they work hard enough, maybe their economy can become as noncompetitive and laced with government cronies as the United States.

Selling the rope...

[Anonymous Coward]

Big American companies used to be more patriotic and concerned with things like liberty and national security. The made it so they could be easily mobilized for WWII to make the stuff to support the war effort to stop Imperial Japan and NAZI Germany.

These modern corporate giants, however, consider themselves "multinational" and care for little more that maximizing profits and pushing whatever social issues their executives choose to push. The comments that follow involving social policies are not about WHICH social policies they embrace, whether they are good/bad is a matter of opinion, but rather the complete hypocrisy and fakery of pretending to have principles in one place while proving that you really do not in another (often because it would cost money to have those same principles in the other location).

They will happily fight the US government on things like encryption even on a serious thing like a specific terrorist incident, while happily meeting with any tyrant on Earth and letting those governments see their source code. They'll refuse to sell tech to the US if they think it might be used in ways they do not like, but will happily sell tech to tyrannical governments that they know will be used to suppress political dissent and the most basic human rights. They'll boycott a state like North Carolina because it refuses to create a legal loophole that would let dirty old men pretend to be transgender and thus have a "legitimate" reason to be in a shower/bathroom/lockerroom with little girls, or boycott a state that does not recognize gay marriage........ but then they happily do business in countries that tolerate a rampant child sex trade, or slaughter homosexuals like cattle.

"The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them." - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Why "so-called"?

[gweihir]

While you may not like the Chinese, their concerns are entirely valid. They want to know what amount of US backdoors and spying capabilities they buy with the devices and expose their people to. Sure, the Chinese do this themselves, but it is their country, so they rightfully wonder about foreign spying, regardless of what they do themselves.