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Worried About Trump iPhone Eavesdroppers? China Recommends a Huawei (reuters.com) 109

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
China's foreign ministry has some suggestions for the Trump administration if it is worried about foreign eavesdropping on the U.S. president's iPhones: use a Huawei handset instead. Or just cut all forms of modern communication with the outside world. From a report: The riposte came after the New York Times reported that American intelligence reports indicated that Chinese and Russian spies often listen in on President Donald Trump when he uses his Apple cellphones to chat with old friends. Aides have repeatedly told him that his cellphone calls are not secure, but although the president has been persuaded to use his secure White House landline more often, he has refused to give up the phones, the Times said. Trump called the Times report incorrect on Thursday, and dismissed it as "long and boring." "I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone. Story is soooo wrong!" Trump wrote on Twitter. In a later tweet, he said, "I rarely use a cellphone, & when I do it's government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!"
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Worried About Trump iPhone Eavesdroppers? China Recommends a Huawei More

Worried About Trump iPhone Eavesdroppers? China Recommends a Huawei

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  • Leave that stuff for the jerks on Twitter

  • It's a good idea and perfectly true. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:03AM (#57539247) Journal

    They're right: once you know for sure something is happening then you can stop worrying about it. It's the doubt and uncertainty that's the real killer. Their suggestion certainly removes all doubt on the matter.

  • So what? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bert64 ( 520050 ) <.moc.eeznerif.todhsals. .ta. .treb.> on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:06AM (#57539261) Homepage

    It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends, people he was in regular contact with long before he became president. So long as he's not discussing classified information (and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made) then whats the problem?

    Even if using a government supplied landline, if hes calling regular phones then it can't be encrypted end to end, it has to traverse the public telephone network at some point where it could be subject to interception.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends, people he was in regular contact with long before he became president. So long as he's not discussing classified information (and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made) then whats the problem?

      Most intelligence agencies would kill to know the breakfast menu of the president of the United States. This is a person in a job who can, on a whim, change the world. Other countries tend to like knowing about anything that would affect their mood.

      Even if using a government supplied landline, if hes calling regular phones then it can't be encrypted end to end, it has to traverse the public telephone network at some point where it could be subject to interception.

      Sure, but it is substantially more difficult.

      • Most intelligence agencies would kill to know the breakfast menu of the president of the United States.

        Most intelligence agencies would find it easier to read the Business Insider [businessinsider.com]:

        In fact, he usually doesn't eat a morning meal. Back in 2016, Trump told People, "Oftentimes I skip breakfast. But usually my favorite would be bacon and eggs — bacon medium and the eggs over-well."

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Freischutz ( 4776131 )

      It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends, people he was in regular contact with long before he became president. So long as he's not discussing classified information (and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made) then whats the problem?

      Even if using a government supplied landline, if hes calling regular phones then it can't be encrypted end to end, it has to traverse the public telephone network at some point where it could be subject to interception.

      Well, let's see ... he might be discussing crooked business deals, tax cheating, election manipulations, hiring prostitutes for golden shower parties or other things that are not classified information but that would render him vulnerable to blackmail?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dj245 ( 732906 )

        Well, let's see ... he might be discussing crooked business deals, tax cheating, election manipulations, hiring prostitutes for golden shower parties or other things that are not classified information but that would render him vulnerable to blackmail?

        Unless there is video of Trump penetrating underage girls holding up their student ID's, I'm not sure he is blackmailable. Absolutely nothing has stuck so far, including a laundry list of items that would have or have sunk other politicians. The Mueller stuff is probably being cooked until after he is out of office. An impeachment would be incredibly disruptive and a bad thing for the country. And Trump isn't the kind of person who would resign to minimize the disruption, he would make it blow up more.

    • Re:So what? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Moskit ( 32486 ) on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:25AM (#57539353)

      Intelligence obtained from "just chats with old friends" can be just as valuable as from classified communication.
      Who are the friends?
      Which one could extract some additional information in "just chat"?
      Who has influence over president?

      The "secured landline" would be likely used for communicating with other secured lines and blocked from calling regular ones.

      Now please download and install this attached "supercontrol.dll" upgrade for your Linux, it will improve your mileage, trust me! What could be the problem?

      • Intelligence obtained from "just chats with old friends" can be just as valuable as from classified communication. Who are the friends? Which one could extract some additional information in "just chat"? Who has influence over president?

        You get it. More people to get information from and investigate, possible avenues of compromise, and of course, the occasional bragging slip.

      • This was the metadata debate from back when they didn't have the processing power to voice analyze every call.

        "Oh its just who you called and when, no worries!"

        Yeah, dude, big worries. A map of relations between every single person. If anyone in your web commits a crime, now you are a suspect.

    • It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends, people he was in regular contact with long before he became president. So long as he's not discussing classified information (and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made) then whats the problem?

      It's not so much specific information but developing a picture of what motivates him, his interests, and what he may be thinking. They are just more pieces inn the puzzle.That provides opportunities to gain an edge in negotiations, learn what buttons to push to get desired results, who to approach on specific topics, etc.

      The good (?) news is he apparently doesn't listen to intel briefings so he doesn't have information to reveal.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        Who, at this point, doesn't know what motivates him. He has the depth of a piece of paper.

        • He has the depth of a piece of paper.

          Really? Come on now.

          That's being far too generous. I think you might want to look on the far side of the Planck length instead.

    • and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made

      Are you kidding? You don't think that he tells random people all sorts of US secrets? He fucking Tweets [wikipedia.org] nation secrets.

      If we didn't have a ridiculously corrupt Congress, he's be serving life behind bars for treason.

      • and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made Are you kidding? You don't think that he tells random people all sorts of US secrets? He fucking Tweets [wikipedia.org] nation secrets. If we didn't have a ridiculously corrupt Congress, he's be serving life behind bars for treason.

        Treason is only applicable during war. We bandy that word around too much.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by DogDude ( 805747 )
          Treason is only applicable during war.

          That's not true:

          "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

          • Treason is only applicable during war. That's not true: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

            Sounds like an interpretation on your part. Others may vary. I and many others give the "only" part the most weight.

            This doesn't mean that Trump or any president cannot be prosecuted for espionage type crimes.

            Also, an interesting thing is that if he were to pardon himself - a possible scenario of doing that and being upheld now by the Supreme court, it would have to be remembered that to accept a pardon, admission must be made that the crime was committed.

        • Treason is only applicable during war. We bandy that word around too much.

          In the US, Article III of the Constitution says, "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

          So waging war against the US is one form of treason. The other is in "adhering to" or giving aid and comfort to the enemy. So, war is not explicitly required for all forms of trea

    • It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends

      So Putin then.

    • were an issue [politifact.com]. You're a high priority target you don't get to take chances.

      Well, not the "same" issue. Private email servers are used throughout Washington and somehow stopped being an issue [nytimes.com] after 2016. I wonder what changed?

    • It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends, people he was in regular contact with long before he became president. So long as he's not discussing classified information (and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made) then whats the problem?

      Even if using a government supplied landline, if hes calling regular phones then it can't be encrypted end to end, it has to traverse the public telephone network at some point where it could be subject to interception.

      Interesting intelligence can be pieced together from seemingly innocuous conversations. You can pick up state of mind, often people will reveal sort of unclassified information coupled with sort of other unclassified information, and put 'em together and what do you got? A classified breach. As well, there are often full fledged slips every so often And if not slips, things can become classified later.

      And if it wasn't interesting, China and Russia and others would not be eavesdropping on the conversation

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kiviQr ( 3443687 )
      Either we have a standard for securing president or we do not. Using unauthorized phone gives potential enemy his location - very bad idea.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by SirSlud ( 67381 )

      and he cant be, or there would be a much bigger fuss being made

      Iron tight logic there.

    • It says he uses the phones to talk to old friends, people he was in regular contact with long before he became president.

      You mean Vladimir Putin?

  • That is some next level trolling right there (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:10AM (#57539289)
    My favorite thing to come out about this story is that the intelligence community doesn't care that our President's communications are bugged because he doesn't bother listening to the briefings. It's like that is Dilbert joke where he'd have to be smarter to do something stupid.

  • I think this was mistranslated (Score:5, Funny)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:10AM (#57539291)
    I think what China said was mistranslated. They intended to say that if Trump wanted to make sure that China could eavesdrop, then he should have went with a Huawei phone.

  • Consider the source (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrLogic17 ( 233498 ) on Friday October 26, 2018 @08:18AM (#57539325) Journal

    China, being one of the largest sources of spying threats, recommends a specific phone. That they happen to make.
    They assure us that they can evesdrop on every other phone, except the one designed & made in their country, with no outside audits.

    Sure. We'll get right on that.

  • As far as security and privacy, I mean.
    Both gather user information and send it somewhere on internet servers which are very likely exploitable.
    Both have 0-day exploits.
    The idiocy of the user is exactly the same.

  • The phone brand doesn't matter. If it's on wireless it can be stingrayed, and it's already been shown that DC is full of them.

  • This is slashdot.

    I now get modded to -5 by the communists who happen to have mod points.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • If the public phone system is too insecure for a president to use, then it's probably too insecure for anyone else to use, too. Maybe it should be .. oh, I don't know .. fixed?

  • Trump called the Times report incorrect on Thursday, and dismissed it as "long and boring." "I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone. Story is soooo wrong!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

    I could write a long screed about Trump's short attention span (probably he got bored with the article because it didn't have enough pictures). But instead, I will point out that he wrote his comeback on Twitter. Trump doesn't have a desktop computer - he does his tweeting from a phone

    • I'm guessing that his government phone has been modified so that it can't have twitter (or most anything else) installed on it.

      I'm guessing if Twitter was the only real hold-up, the NSA would make him a special hardened Twitter app for his phone.

  • 'Or just cut all forms of modern communication with the outside world.'

    I wish.

  • That's what this is, plain and simple: Huawei is mocking Trump, and all of us here in the United States along with him. That is what this man has done to us: made us a laughingstock, all over the world.

  • we could sure use some transcripts of Trump's phone calls...

    "I love wikileaks!"

    Lock him up! Lock him up!

    Morons...

  • The Chinese is recommending a phone to avoid evesdropping? WTF!!!
  • Get a Huawei, then it's guaranteed

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