Chinese Products: Spying Inside

Via @stroughtonsmith:

Russia: Hidden chips ‘launch spam attacks from irons’

State-owned channel Rossiya 24 even showed footage of a technician opening up an iron included in a batch of Chinese imports to find a “spy chip” with what he called “a little microphone”. Its correspondent said the hidden devices were mostly being used to spread viruses, by connecting to any computer within a 200m (656ft) radius which were using unprotected Wi-Fi networks. Other products found to have rogue components reportedly included mobile phones and car dashboard cameras.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

I never expected this.

It would be easier to plant software like that in a tablet made in China.

Do you still want to buy a Chinese tablet now?

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The Big “WRONG! You Moron!”

One year ago on this date, I was poo-pooing what turned into Superstorm Sandy: The Future Is Filled With Bullshit Panic Based On Software.

In my weak defense, we went through this before with Hurricane Irene and nothing happened (here; but other states got devastation): Hurricane Irene Hysteria In New York City.

To rub salt in the wound of my wrongness, the two small businesses in that Irene post were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy (one has since re-opened after months of cleanup and renovation).

To see my collection of post-Sandy photos of destruction: Index Of Superstorm Sandy Photo Posts

I don’t want to go through another thing like Superstorm Sandy for the rest of my life.

Tablet Notes

They don’t cite the source, but 1Pad reports that Steve Wozniak wants an iPad with 256GBs of storage [Google English]. He cites the difficulty of finding good wireless connections. My own concern is that I will not use the Cloud after all the NSA spying revelations. When your data is in the Cloud, the Cloud provider can be served with a warrant to examine your stuff without you ever being notified. The hell with that. I want to be notified and the only way for that to be more likely to happen (it’s no longer guaranteed since they’re now regularly violating the Bill of Rights) is if I store everything on my own premises.