China orders government workers to stop using iPhones amid heightened tensions with US

MicroWave@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 190 points – China orders ministries to stop using iPhones amid heightened US tensions
scmp.com

A handful of Chinese ministries have told employees to stop using Apple’s iPhones at work, citing national security risks amid heightened geopolitical tensions with the United States, according to several people familiar with the matter.

The orders were handed down in August to employees at ministries whose portfolios are focused on investment, trade and international affairs, according to five separate sources with knowledge of the situation.

The measures were understood to be aimed at eliminating perceived national security risks from using telecommunication devices made by a US company, sources said.

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I think it makes sense theoretically, but the problem is that the Chinese alternatives are probably full of deliberate security holes which are needed to get information from everyone to the CCP but can also be used be other people to get information from the Chinese.

I'm sure the Government can go tell a company to remove the backdoors on Government devices:

Remove all the backdoors and we'll buy phones for each of our 100,000 employees and award your company a ¥3 gazillion support contract. But if we find out the NSA hacked our phones then there'll be big trouble, Mao Zedong-style.

But the higher ups still want to spy on the lower ones.

They can install the same management software that most companies around the globe put on their employee's phones to track what their minions are doing on company hardware. You don't need special backdoors for that.

How else will they track and punish every tiny expression of doubt?

Sounds interesting. Do you have a source?

I don't know why people keep posting these huge images...

But I've been blocking the people that do it often and it's really improved the Lemmy experience, highly recommend. Not just because they're annoying, but it was also used as an attack vector for malicious code a few weeks ago

Using sync, there's the option to disable embedded images in comments. It's made an amazing difference in browsing quality. Comments don't get blocked, you can still read and participate in discussions without having to scratch your eyes out

It's not like I block everyone who posts one.

But if I click their name and it's filled with stupid pictures...

I'm not worried about missing any conversation that comes after it.

This yoz kid is annoying af, followed your advice.