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Comment by trendia | Hacker News Reader

The US won't be able to force these rules on foreign companies selling outside the US. e.g. Huawei, Samsung, and Sony are not going to backdoor their phones for customers in Asia / Europe. So, corporate / governmental customers in those countries are going to shy away from buying American phones... I can't see how this is a good thing for American companies.

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They could tariff their products that don't adhere and cut out their US bottom line.

This just happened with foreign solar tariffs.

But they will be able to ban sales of phones that do not comply. For God's sake, they banned tiny circular magnets. Certainly they can ban particular models of phones.

You're trying to use logic and reason as they apply to the government. The dirty secret is: they don't. Ever.

Never read about "tiny circular magnets". What are you referring to?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium_magnet_toys

They were banned because if a child swallows two of them, then they'll pull toward each other, possibly ripping a hole in the intestine.

Whereas a big magnet pill is the proper treatment for a cow that has eaten too much "hardware".

Maybe as "toy sets" of magnets; it seems there's a ton of back and forth.

That said, you can get spherical rare-earth magnets here:

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=12

...though a set of such won't be cheap, depending on the size of the magnets wanted.

Buckyballs! I still have some, bought when they were legal in the U.S. They're pretty strong magnets and stick together and you can make shapes with them.

Only problem -- if a little kid or animal swallows at least 2 of them, then they can pinch some intestines together inside you and be stuck there and kill you.

You can still buy rare Earth magnets of exceptional strength and small size. It’s just that they’re sold through scientific and industrial channels rather than the toy aisle at retail stores or marketed as toys online.

If the US mandates insecure products or backdoored encryption, it will put the US at a competitive disadvantage.

The other 96% of the world's population will know that if they want a secure product don't buy from the US.

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