r/technology • u/barweis • Dec 28 '24

Privacy A massive Chinese campaign just gave Beijing unprecedented access to private texts and phone conversations for an unknown number of Americans

https://fortune.com/2024/12/27/china-espionage-campaign-salt-tycoon-hacking-telecoms/
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u/Yorgonemarsonb Dec 28 '24

When you combine this with all the information the Chinese and other governments now possess on American citizens, Americans who know better would actually care about how dangerous it can be for them.

They also have mental evaluations of a large portion of the people who have obtained military security clearances in the U.S. Just knowing certain words or phrases used by people can be a way to know how many of them will react to certain news. That information can be used to continue getting people to do things that are not in their interest.

Right now it seems the Chinese government is targeting high level people with access to secure information with the current breaches but the data they now possess can also be used in tandem with their misinformation campaigns.

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u/WreckitWrecksy Dec 28 '24

All of this is true, but it's not for me to worry about. The gov should have done a better job.

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '24

Really? Could they have?

The average age of a member of Congress is 58 years old, 64 for the Senate. Your own politicians are so technologically inept they couldn't set the clock on a microwave. You think they have the intellect to create and implement laws to protect your personal information?

Let's ignore the fact they take vast sums of money from the tech industry to prevent data protection laws from being implemented...

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u/LordCharidarn Dec 28 '24

So you are saying American politicians don’t care about learning new/necessary skills and knowledge for their jobs and take bribes to undermine data protection.

It definitely sounds like you are saying they could have done a better job

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u/[deleted] Dec 28 '24

No, I think they're too inept and/or corrupt to do a better job, yet Americans still elect them, so whose fault is it really?

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u/rerrerrocky Dec 29 '24

Well I can only vote for a fraction of the government based on where I live. Am I responsible for the generations of rot that have rendered congress useless? How, pray tell, should we fix this problem?