The SoapVox

So…the U.S. State Department decided that having a foreign-made computer in secure networks was a security risk, and now Lenovo computers can’t be used in secure networks.

There’s two things about this decision that are, to me, proof that the people in the State Department are dumber than a rock.

First one is that it seems like they don’t know who builds the stuff that runs most of the computers in the world. I’m pretty sure that over 50% of the hardware inside every computer assembled in the U.S. is built in either China, Taiwan or some other country-not-the-U.S. Therefore, the USSD will now have to audit every computer manufacturer in the U.S. to make sure that all computers bought by a government agency for use in a secure network is made with 100% american parts.

Of course, that’ll mean that the U.S. government will now have to pay a premium, just because most computer manufacturers build their parts in other countries because *it’s cheaper*.

On the other hand, I’m pretty sure that foreign governments will retailiate sooner or later…most probably sooner than later. The Russian Parliament already said that they fear western (ie. American) espionage through software, and I’m pretty sure that they won’t be the only ones…who can guarantee that Windows doesn’t have a backdoor for the NSA to snoop through?

I can see what the reasoning behind Rep. Frank Wolf’s concerns and the State Department’s decision…I wouldn’t trust a closed system from a country whose government is hostile to my way of life, that’s for sure. But I can also see how Lenovo would feel slighted and even decide to sue for difamation (not that they have said they will).

In many ways, this posture of “I don’t trust your stuff” is understandable in this era of fear and terrorism, but I’m also 100% sure that the moment a government says “By decree, Microsoft and every other U.S. software company are banned from government use” will get a stern talking-to by the same U.S. State Department that is now talking about security concerns.

On the other hand, this can only mean good things to Linux and other FLOSS Operating Systems and software. You *can* trust FLOSS software, you have the code, you can look at the code and then build binaries from the code that you just finished auditing to make sure there’s no backdoors for the NSA :)

In other words, the Department of State of the United States may be doing the best thing to hammer down the Microsoft predatory monopoly, and helping Linux and other Open Source systems get a foothold in governments that will decide to make the U.S. know that if they want to play the balkanization game, they can play it too…and the FLOSS comunity would be the winner in that case :)

Technorati Tags: linux, lenovo, us state department, politics, microsoft

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