Should the US Really Limit Chinese-Government Influenced IT Systems? 220
coondoggie writes "New federal restrictions now preclude four U.S. agencies from buying information-technology (IT) systems from manufacturers 'owned, directed or subsidized by the People's Republic of China' due to national-security concerns. But is this a smart tactic? It's clear that some in the U.S. government, including the House Intelligence Committee — which issued a scathing report last fall that called Huawei and ZTE a threat to national security — and the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. are also working in other ways behind the scenes to keep technology made by China-based manufacturers out of U.S. commercial networks as well."
Take it further (Score:5, Interesting)
This will probably be my second shortest ever post (Score:5, Interesting)
No, they can't. (Score:5, Interesting)
Why suddenly has this come to forefront?
Because there has been classified evidence of compromises built into the hardware via the manufacturing process, which is in China or Taiwan. A shocking and deep threat.
They can't talk about it in public, but suddenly Sandia labs is upgrading its semiconductor manufacturing plant.
Re:Some, anyway (Score:5, Interesting)
Reminds me of a program manager I dealt with once. I was one foot out the door with offers on the table, having given up on my employer whose name rhymes with hell. I flat out refused to support an ODM design (I actually refused my entire 7 years there, but never was obvious about it). He asked me why, and I said I only support my local businesses. He wanted to bring me to HR for all sorts of racism, xenophobism, protectionism, insubordination, accusing me of trying to unionize, etc.
Then I asked him (knowing the answer), why we are using this ODM at all, and his response was that the end customer (a large Chinese company) will only purchase through (a large Chinese manufacturer) and they would only support locally designed products. I asked why they can't just take my working, tested, FCC approved design and he said they wanted to change components. I asked "What's wrong with the components on my board, is there a defect?", and he said "They're not made in China".
The worst part, the part that made me furious, is that he couldn't see my point. He kept spouting off capitalist slogans and telling me to read this inane book about the new global economy.