10-06-2018, 11:57 AM
(10-06-2018, 11:13 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: > Gee -- so if I have a ZTE cell phone, should I get rid of it? I
> use it exclusively for phone calls and as a camera.
Back in ancient historical times (April 2018), intelligence agencies
advised against buying Huawei or ZTE products because they could be
compromised by China's military. Then ZTE was almost completely put
out of business for a completely different reason, having to do with
violations of US sanctions against Iran, and then continuing the
violations after committing not to do it again. Trump intervened to
save ZTE, saying that he was doing so because of a personal request
from Xi Jinping. So ZTE is still alive today.
However, that's a completely separate issue from whether
your ZTE phone is compromised by a chip compromised by China's
military. There's certainly a possibility that it is.
If you want my personal opinion, I would not panic and throw the phone
into the garbage pail, but I would look for an opportunity in the next
few months to get a non-Chinese phone, and replace the Chinese phone
in an orderly fashion. In the meantime, I would not keep any
data on the phone that you think that the Chinese would like to hack.
And I say this as someone whose web site (GenerationalDynamics.com)
has been under almost continuous attack by the Chinese for almost ten
years now, mainly because of articles like the one that I posted
today.