this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
202 points (93.5% liked)

Asklemmy

43611 readers
1190 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

For example, if you insist on buying Advil instead of store brand ibuprofen. I mean, you’d be wasting your money in that example, but you do you

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] adam_b@infosec.pub 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, but all tech products are sourced from China no ?

[–] Pirasp@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Lots of them, yes. But most of them aren't designed there. And yes, I am aware that there are reputable Chinese brands, but the Chinese genetics are not those.

[–] adam_b@infosec.pub 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I mean even if it was reputable, doesn't mean it's trustworthy, in fact it's quite the opposite, and even if it was designed elsewhere, the manufacturing process still happens there, which is concerning to say the least, that's why Apple wants to start manufacturing in the US, and UK ( and other Eu countries ) wants to remove huawei 5g networks,

Now, is all these news nothing but propaganda? Is it for political reasons and Chinese tech products are clean and safe, just the US wants to bury the competition, I don't think so, everyone I know owns a Chinese phone and the way these things behave makes me confirm my suspicions ( activates GPS randomly, scan your downloads, disactives privacy features.. Etc )

Note : the video talks about Samsung which is not Chinese, but it's a famous brand

[–] Saizaku@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Now, is all these news nothing but propaganda?

Literally yes, not because chinese companies don't spy on you, literally all companies spy on you. You prove it by linking a video about samsung. Google and Apple do the same shit. The fact that software is riddled with spyware has nothing to do with the hardware being manufactured in China. China isn't some big bad, moving production elsewhere will change nothing. Lastly you should be far more concerned about western companies spying on you, the ones that cooperate with your local government and leave backdoors in their OS for NSA and the like. What do you think the CCP is gonna do to you? You're outside of their jurisdiction completely.

So yes it js just propaganda, in a sense that it's trying to make you think this kind of behavior is somehow unique to Chinese companies or a result of tech being manufactured in China.

[–] adam_b@infosec.pub 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

moving production elsewhere will change nothing

Probably yes, but isn't relying on a single country to get your chips, equal or even more problematic. especially when you know that that country is heavily invested in cyberwarfare, espionage and censorship.

Even their constitution states that every Chinese product ( software or hardware ), must send data it collects to the government.

What's stops them from "chipping" every phone they export ? Or hardcoding spyware into the motherboard or CPU ? Nothing ( this is way more scarier than software level spying )

What do you think the CCP is gonna do to you? You're outside of their jurisdiction completely.

You don't know that πŸ’€

it js just propaganda, in a sense that it's trying to make you think this kind of behavior is somehow unique to Chinese companies or a result of tech being manufactured in China

This is like Apple saying your Android spies on you... lol ( I believe they did say that )

I'm aware of US privacy laws ( e.g. Cloud Act ) and technologies ( e.g. Intel ME ), yeah it's not unique to China

[–] Saizaku@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

especially when you know that that country is heavily invested in cyberwarfare, espionage and censorship.

Which country isn't? The US does more spying on its own citizens than China could ever dream of doing. The UK is currently trying to pass a bill to break e2ee.

Even their constitution states that every Chinese product ( software or hardware ), must send data it collects to the government.

This is false as far as I know, can you provide a source? China has some of the strictest laws on data protection, you can read more about it here: https://academic.oup.com/idpl/article/12/2/75/6537091?login=false

This is like Apple saying your Android spies on you... lol ( I believe they did say that )

Not sure where you were going with this. My point is you don't hear any of these concerns raised about any other and as we both agree it's not something unique to China.

The real reason why you hear a lot of talk about moving production out of China lately is simply because Chinese manufacurers have narrowed the the gap a lot in terms of chip designs and are becoming an actual threat to western comanies' profit margins.

[–] adam_b@infosec.pub 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

China has some of the strictest laws on data protection

Is that so ? , protection from who ?

just so we on the same page, I'm talking about data is gathered, not whether it's protected ( legally ) , idc

can you provide a source?

I'm not a lawyer but I think somewhere in the DSL it mentions data is collected from companies within China and outside, but why is it hard for you to swallow, knowing that US based companies ( with all the power they have, lawyers.. Etc ) comply with data collection laws

Not sure where you were going with this

It's more of a metaphor I guess, basically it's a decoy, they tell you these people are spying on you, while they do the same or worse

becoming an actual threat to western companies' profit margins.

Aaside from that, US officials make good points when they talk about the threat of Chinese products ( Tiktok, Huawei ) from a Cybersecurity perspective

[–] Saizaku@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Linking to the great firewall article is completely nonsensical in this context, and you would be aware of that if you had bothered to open the link in my previous comment.

just so we on the same page, I'm talking about data is gathered, not whether it's protected ( legally ) , idc

Which is exactly what I'm talking about, which you would again know if you read what I linked.

I'm not a lawyer but I think somewhere in the DSL it mentions data is collected from companies within China and outside

It doesn't, what I linked to discusses the very laws you are talking about at length if you are actually interested rather than just spouting nonsense like "it's in the constitution".

Just so we're on the same page you have no idea about Chinese laws on gathering, processing and handling of data, but you heard it somewhere, repeat it, won't bother to research further and then claim there's no propaganda.

but why is it hard for you to swallow, knowing that US based companies ( with all the power they have, lawyers.. Etc ) comply with data collection laws

Because they don't. Evidenced by all the fines the EU is handing out to google, meta, etc. You could also look to all the stuff Snowden blew the whostle on. Do you think they just stopped doing mass surveillance on a global level?

[–] adam_b@infosec.pub 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Oh, shoot didn't realize China is a privacy haven, maybe I should move there, maybe I should install Tiktok as well, is that what you're saying ?

Because they don't. Evidenced by all the fines the EU is handing out to google, meta, etc. You could also look to all the stuff Snowden blew the whostle on. Do you think they just stopped doing mass surveillance on a global level?

There is a misunderstanding here, I meant they do comply with FBI subpoena's and they do handle data to US government and 3 letter agencies, why is it that you think Chinese companies are safe from their government ? ( I'll rephrase it : if US gov can just order US based companies to hand over user messages and emails, why can't China gov do the same to Chinese based companies ? considering their track record )

I did open your article BTW, it doesn't answer this question, off course i didn't read the whole thing

then claim there's no propaganda

how ? When ?

Didn't say it's not propaganda, I was the first to suspect the news I shared to be propaganda, but that doesn't mean there is no truth in it, that's how you make successful propaganda, you add false narratives to the real ones, have you listened to why your government officials wanted to ban Tiktok ?

[–] rockandsock@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm hoping you're a victim of spellcheck and meant generics.

[–] Pirasp@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Yes, I meant generics. Spelling on phone keyboards is rather difficult when your thumbs are as wide as mine...