Hacker News Reader

Comment by nathan_long | Hacker News Reader

I had to install WeChat once on my phone for business reasons. From what I read of the Chinese government's control over it, I felt nervous that my phone was compromised by installing it.

You could say that Facebook is just as bad, but 1) I don't install Facebook and 2) I still trust the US Government more than the Chinese one.

View on HN

I'm not sure if this is still the case but Google used to not even allow employees to bring their laptops to China. If a Googler had to go to China they would be issued a special laptop just for that trip. I have no idea what IT had to do to that laptop after the trip to make sure it was clean.

If I were going to China on business I'd have a separate cell phone just for that purpose. You can just swap sim cards if you need to keep the same number. Smartphones are so cheap nowadays you might as well have a burner for that purpose.

> If I were going to China on business I'd have a separate cell phone just for that purpose. You can just swap sim cards if you need to keep the same number. Smartphones are so cheap nowadays you might as well have a burner for that purpose.

A SIM card is an independent computer that runs a stripped-down version of Java. According to this comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17083221), the cell network can even upload programs to it to run.

Sim isn't a computer, it's just a secure data store. SIM cards predate java afaik.

There are UICC SIM card -- it is a java card emulating sim card.

for example: https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/131100_131199/131130/08...

> I have no idea what IT had to do to that laptop after the trip to make sure it was clean.

The most cost-effective solution? Put it into a blender.

I remember reading a similar article from NYT or WaPo on how executives of major companies had to use burner devices when travelling to China. That device was disposed off on return. The article pretty much implied that it was the status quo and how everyone does things when they need to travel to China.

If you go to China you need proper opsec, burner phone and laptop. Use nail polish on the laptop screws. Toss a little glitter on the case and take a photo of the pattern. Now you tell if someone tried anything while getting dinner.

I trust neither really, but I feel my data would be more useful to the US one.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com