Comments on: Lenovo Banned by U.S. State Department..dumbass mistakes pushed by politics, but it’ll help Linux http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/ All the stuff that goes through Vox's mind, including SF/Fantasy books, open source software, linux, security, and many other geeky pursuits. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:24:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: JRB Technology http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-385 JRB Technology Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:12:51 +0000 http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-385 <strong>Lenovo says no to Linux...</strong> Lenovo, who bought the most respected lines of laptops, the ThinkPad, has decided to not support Linux. IBM is a major Linux supporter, and one of the reason the ThinkPad made it in the business world is that you could install Linux on it. ... Lenovo says no to Linux…

Lenovo, who bought the most respected lines of laptops, the ThinkPad, has decided to not support Linux. IBM is a major Linux supporter, and one of the reason the ThinkPad made it in the business world is that you could install Linux on it. …

]]> By: Alabama Watch » Blog Archive » Stupid bureaucrat trick - buy computers from China http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-384 Alabama Watch » Blog Archive » Stupid bureaucrat trick - buy computers from China Sat, 27 May 2006 01:19:56 +0000 http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-384 [...] Lenovo Banned by U.S. State Department..dumbass mistakes pushed by politics, but it’ll help Linux [...] [...] Lenovo Banned by U.S. State Department..dumbass mistakes pushed by politics, but it’ll help Linux [...]

]]> By: Vox http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-383 Vox Sun, 21 May 2006 04:38:51 +0000 http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-383 I'm pretty sure it's fear of the computers having a backdoor into the system or a tracking bug of some kind. The software side can be easily fixed by doing what most decent sysadmins do when they get a new computer for a network...format and install everything from scratch. The problem is that it being hardware, finding said backdoor would be a bit more difficult than finding a software backdoor. On the other hand, be it a HW or a SW backdoor, it *can* be detected, with proper security techniques, and if they *had* found such a thing, I'm pretty sure they would have said so...which makes me almost certain that this is, no doubt, a political move by Rep. Wolf, who, from what I've been reading, needs a boost for the next electoral cycle, because he's been dropping in points. I’m pretty sure it’s fear of the computers having a backdoor into the system or a tracking bug of some kind. The software side can be easily fixed by doing what most decent sysadmins do when they get a new computer for a network…format and install everything from scratch.

The problem is that it being hardware, finding said backdoor would be a bit more difficult than finding a software backdoor.

On the other hand, be it a HW or a SW backdoor, it *can* be detected, with proper security techniques, and if they *had* found such a thing, I’m pretty sure they would have said so…which makes me almost certain that this is, no doubt, a political move by Rep. Wolf, who, from what I’ve been reading, needs a boost for the next electoral cycle, because he’s been dropping in points.

]]> By: chinalawblog http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-382 chinalawblog Sun, 21 May 2006 03:02:03 +0000 http://thesoapvox.com/2006/05/19/lenovo-banned-yb-us-state-departmentdumbass-mistakes-pushed-by-politics-but-itll-help-linux/#comment-382 It is not unreasonable to think that Chinese companies (even those out of HK like Lenovo) will do Beijing’s bidding. However, wouldn’t it be really easy to discovery anything in the computers that allows tracking back? Or is the fear not so much that there’s a software bug, but rather that there is a listening bug? If I knew more about the technical side I would be much better able to determine whether this is politically motivated or not. It certainly does seem to be. It is not unreasonable to think that Chinese companies (even those out of HK like Lenovo) will do Beijing’s bidding. However, wouldn’t it be really easy to discovery anything in the computers that allows tracking back? Or is the fear not so much that there’s a software bug, but rather that there is a listening bug? If I knew more about the technical side I would be much better able to determine whether this is politically motivated or not. It certainly does seem to be.

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