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Comment by dehrmann | Hacker News Reader

I don't see how the Trump administration is, on one hand, banning Chinese telecom equipment because of alleged backdoors, then turning around and asking US firms to put in backdoors. Sure, they're your backdoors, but it hurts the US's credibility.

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The government’s argument has always been along the lines of: “Don’t worry. The US is better than China and our secret backdoor keys will never be leaked. Trust us :)”

Have the secret backdoor keys that allow developers to remotely update the software on every Windows, iOS or Android device ever been leaked?

The concept is national security. Credibility is a non issue, same with which administration is in power. This is done because of national security concerns and it absolutely makes sense to reject a foreign powers communication equipment and at the same time continually push for access to hardware being developed in country or abroad.

What's to understand? Politicians (even people pretending to be one) have two sides to their mouths and they are constantly talking out of both.

Tribalism.

China and Russia == Bad

US Government == Good

That is the narrative they want to believe, and many Americans believe that as well

Me, Government == Bad

The idea that we think China and Russia's governments are bad because of tribalism is silly.

Both of these governments operate under what's essentially a uniparty totalitarian dictatorship.

China and Russia do not enjoy freedoms that the West enjoys, which means very bad news if they're able to assert authority over us.

Yes because "the west" is really respectful of Freedoms....

No nation on the planet respects liberty. None. You just have assimilated the oppression your government places on you so be something "you dont care about anyway" or "I never wanted to do X is the first place" so as to delude yourself in to the belief you are free

No Different than many of the people from nations that we view as "totalitarian" but they claim to be free

I agree that the west doesn't have as many freedoms as I would like it to have.

This isn't binary. While the west isn't perfect, it very clearly has more liberty than China

Not sure if it's even that simple. The US keeps allies which are essentially uniparty totalitarian dictatorships of some sort or another, some deeply unpopular with the populace, but all of them geopolitical allies.

Every government does this. They want powers for themselves because they are in charge already, and consider it their duty, not that of other governments which they see as potential meddlers or foes, to know what you are doing. They don’t consider it their jurisdiction to want this in other countries - which is why they call it espionage instead.

It’s like your own parents vs other parents.

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