Chinese PC's May Come With Bonus Feature: Spying On Everything You Do

So, IBM sold its PC manufacturing arm to the Chinese -- the most aggressive state sponsor of hacking and computer espionage in the world. The US Government approved of the sale, because, you know, what possible harm could come from the sale of one of our biggest PC manufacturers to the most aggressive state sponsor of hacking and computer espionage in the world?

Well, shockingly enough: Significant harm, it turns out.

The kicker? The US government itself is in negotiations to purchase 16,000 of these possible spy PC's.

The United States government is planning to spend roughly $13M USD on computers from Lenovo. The company, famous for buying up IBM's PC manufacturing arm, is working on a deal with the US government to produce roughly 16,000 computers. Just recently, the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission (USCC) has requested that Lenovo be probed for any concerns about possible spying, eavesdropping or worse.

The supposed problem presented by the USCC is that the 16,000 computers are being built by a Chinese-mainland company. The USCC argues that a foreign intelligence like that of the Communist Party of China (CPC) can use its power to get Lenovo to equip its machines with espionage devices. Lenovo has strongly declined that it is involved in any such activities.

Some analysts call the concerns kneejerk and paranoid, but then, it should be remembered that China is the most aggressive state sponsor of hacking and computer espionage in the world.

Did I mention that?

Thanks to DDG.

posted by Ace at 03:01 PM

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