Posted on 03/30/2006 9:33:57 AM PST by Salo
The USCC launched a probe against Lenovo, but many wonder if the accusations are warranted
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.
Many analysts would call these probes are excessive and knee-jerk. When manufactured under IBM, almost all Lenovo PCs were built in the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) to some degree or another anyway. Of the top 10 system builders in the US, eight have some component manufacture attributed specifically to ECS-Tatung, at Taiwanese corporation that only assembles exclusively in the PRC. Of the other two not represented by ECS-Tatung, Dell and Apple, Dell has a strong reliance on ASUStek -- another company that builds exclusively in the PRC.
Despite the probe, Lenovo says that its international business, especially those that deal with the US, follow strictly laid out government regulations and rules. Lenovo also claims that even after purchasing IBM's PC division, its international business has not been affected negatively. Interestingly, in an interview with the BBC, Lenovo mentioned that an open investigation or probe may negatively affect the way that the company deals with future government contracts or bids. The Lenovo representative did not explain details on exactly what negative implications would occur if there were future investigations. The 16,000 PCs to be built for the US government are actually assembled outside of China in Mexico, Taiwan and Raleigh -- an oddity in the PC manufacturing business.
A top tier motherboard manufacturer spokesman spoke to us off the record claiming the Lenovo probe has "foreboding" implications. If US companies are intimidated by probes of the USCC, such probes could be easily applied to virtually every PC manufacturer in the US: Intel motherboards are built by Taiwanese Hon Hai Precision Industries from facilities in Shenzhen; Acer components are built by component manufacturers in Shanghai; Dell PCs are assembled in factories in Suzhou and Shanghai. The same spokesperson went on to say "We [Taiwanese manufactures] do more work in China than we do anywhere else in the world. I don't even want to think about what would happen to our US clients if we got a USCC probe."
CDW Government, the company originally contracted to fill the orders for the US government also carries several brands that are assembled in the PRC including Acer, BenQ, D-Link, HP, Sharp and Toshiba.
Pings.
Concern over "espionage devices" hidden in workstations sounds like something from prisonplanet.com.
Computer can do anything, connected to Internet, it is open to remote control and "data collection" - not a technical problem, just somebody wanting to do it. With the amount of circuitry crammed onto the chips, it would be surprise that it is not done.
Chinese at your computer control, Putin at the gas valve, suicider muSlimes roaming around, RATs crippling the US - long live "free" world.
Vote the bastRATs out into oblivion!!!
China is well known for spying on the US, anyone who doesn't think they won't use most every opportunity presented to them is a fool.
Of course I was strongly opposed to allowing the Chicom government to purchase the IBM PC division, and American icon, when it was originally announced by IBM.
If we start blocking shipments of those PC's into the US now, will help to make up for it. More business for US businesses like HP and Dell, which they could use when fighting against an opponent who has unlimited resources that can be moved over from other Chicom-owned business fronts.
If we start blocking shipments of those PC's into the US now, will help to make up for it. More business for US businesses like HP and Dell, which they could use when fighting against an opponent who has unlimited resources that can be moved over from other Chicom-owned business fronts.
The same HP and Dell that buy their laptops from China?
You must have skimmed:
Of the other two not represented by ECS-Tatung, Dell and Apple, Dell has a strong reliance on ASUStek -- another company that builds exclusively in the PRC.
CDW Government, the company originally contracted to fill the orders for the US government also carries several brands that are assembled in the PRC including Acer, BenQ, D-Link, HP, Sharp and Toshiba.
So you'd rather have HP's, assembled in China, than Lenovos, assembled in the United States?
Any number of instructions can be easily burned into ROM at the time of manufacture. Even instructions that give a backdoor to the manufacturer to access the computer over a network.
Who manufactures the ROM?
IBM.
Don't you mean Taiwan?
FYI: PRC = ChiComs. As near as I can tell, even the Tiawanese companies outsource to ChiComs. It looks like Apple might be the only exception, and I'd be willing to bet their components ship with fortune cookies, too.
Fine, whatever. You somehow missed my point about this possibly being a watershed moment that leads to the US government to require all their computers be manufactured in the US. All they'd have to do is require it, and plenty of offers would start rolling in.
But if you're not going to block the Chinese government from building the US government systems overseas, you're obviously not going to ever block Dell.
This needs to be a precident, with more to follow on security grounds.
And which offshore company makes them for IBM?
IBM makes all the chips it uses, and is the outsourcer for other manufacturers.
IBM openly admits if not outright brags most of their employees work outside the US, so coming "from IBM" is hardly reassuring.
IBM is still the largest manufacturer of computer hardware in the world, so there must be one or two folks out there who are reassured.
This knee-jerk hysteria post Dubai ought to be embarrassing to the government, and to those who are infected with it at FR, but apparently it's not.
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