#1 Warning! Chinese-made PCs can contain espionage tools!
Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 2:41 am
I couldn't help but laughing my ass off when this news.Didn't it ever happen to those, ahem, "experts" that it is way easier and cheapter to fit "intelligence-gathering functionality" into software instead of hardware? Haven't those "experts" ever thought how hard it is today to find a PC which does not contain Chinese-made parts? Oh no! We're all being spied on since all of our PCs have chinese/taiwanese parts in them. We're doomed!Following a call last month for its purchase of 16,000 Lenovo systems to be investigated, the State Department has opted to limit its use of computers made by the Chinese company. Some officials believe that Lenovo, which acquired IBM's PC division one year ago, represents a security risk due to the Chinese government's 27% ownership of the company. Lenovo systems acquired by the State Department were assembled in the United States and Mexico with Taiwanese parts, but "experts" claim they could still be fitted with intelligence-gathering devices. Due to these allegations, the machines "will not be used for transmitting classified information," according to an aide to Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf. As News.com points out, this isn't the first time the US government has faced a backlash against a foreign company; in March, United Arab Emirate-based Dubai Ports World was pushed by Congress to sell off its recently-acquired operations in six major US ports.
