Comment by slacka | Hacker News Reader

Comment by slacka | Hacker News Reader

I am not surprised by the hypocrisy of the US government here, but where is the proof? He doesn't directly link to the June 2010 report to back his claims. While I trust him, the critical thinker in me despises not being able to check sources.

> Yet what the NSA's documents show is that Americans have been engaged in precisely the activity that the US accused the Chinese of doing.

Only points to the generic page http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files Couldn't he be more specific?

Maybe the reason you're not surprised is because you've heard this story before.

We learned last year that the NSA has an "interdiction" operation to intercept hardware en route to its destination and install monitoring devices or malware.

For example, here's a Der Spiegel article from December 2013 [1]:

  If a target person, agency or company orders a new computer or related
  accessories, for example, TAO can divert the shipping delivery
  to its own secret workshops. The NSA calls this method interdiction.
  At these so-called "load stations," agents carefully open the package
  in order to load malware onto the electronics, or even install hardware
  components that can provide backdoor access for the intelligence
  agencies.

[1] http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-nsa-uses-power...

I think he's releasing the specific documents tomorrow some of the coverage on this story noted today.

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