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National-Security Concerns Threaten Undersea Data Link Backed by Google, Facebook (wsj.com) 45

U.S. officials are seeking to block an undersea cable backed by Google, Facebook, and a Chinese partner, in a national-security review that could rewrite the rules of internet connectivity between the U.S. and China, WSJ reported Wednesday [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source], citing people involved in the discussions. From the report: The Justice Department, which leads a multiagency panel that reviews telecommunications matters, has signaled staunch opposition to the project because of concerns over its Chinese investor, Beijing-based Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group, and the direct link to Hong Kong the cable would provide, the people said. Ships have already draped most of the 8,000-mile Pacific Light Cable Network across the seafloor between the Chinese territory and Los Angeles, promising faster connections for its investors on both sides of the Pacific. The work so far has been conducted under a temporary permit expiring in September. But people familiar with the review say it is in danger of failing to win the necessary license to conduct business because of the objections coming from the panel, known as Team Telecom. Team Telecom has consistently approved past cable projects, including ones directly linking the U.S. to mainland China or involving state-owned Chinese telecom operators, once they were satisfied the company responsible for its U.S. beachhead had taken steps to prevent foreign governments from blocking or tapping traffic.
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National-Security Concerns Threaten Undersea Data Link Backed by Google, Facebook

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  • by Puls4r ( 724907 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @10:49AM (#59133004)
    While I applaud the sudden worry about cyber security in the government, can someone please explain that even if the data is protected at OUR end.... it does have to go through THEIR end too? I'm not sure they quite understand that.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      If you have access to our end, you can typically tap a lot more than just the one connection. These things aren't terminated on an island in a lone building, they end up on an Internet Exchange that carries multiple connections and carriers, gaining access to one means gaining access to potentially hundreds of trans-pacific and even national connections.

      It sounds like the Chinese government wants Huawei to have access to the US Internet Exchange and the NSA is having none of it.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      Politics doesn't have to make sense so long as it puts money in the politicians' pockets.
    • by ron_ivi ( 607351 )
      The real issue is that the word "Security" means something very different than China and the NSA than it does to most slashdotters.
      • To governments, "security" means that they *can* eavesdrop on people like Hong Kong or Black Lives Matter protesters.
      • To the protesters "security" means that their communication can't be eavesdropped against.

      You can't have both kinds of security, since they're mutually exclusive. Better to just assume it's totally unprotected, than being "satisfied the company responsi

  • by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @10:51AM (#59133016)

    "[Editor's note: the link may be paywalled"

    get the "Bypass Firewalls" extension if you didn't yet.

  • crippling paranoia (Score:3, Insightful)

    by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @11:00AM (#59133056)

    the USA is the country that destabilizes governments and regions, attacks those that didn't attack it, spies on its citizens, supports oppressive regimes....

    but now we're going to limit our internet pipelines over irrational fears, what stupidity.

    any threats to the USA from other countries including from China will continue to use the myriad other pipelines already extant.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by InsaneGeek ( 175763 ) <slashdotNO@SPAMinsanegeeks.com> on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @11:21AM (#59133170) Homepage

      the USA is the country that destabilizes governments and regions, attacks those that didn't attack it, spies on its citizens, supports oppressive regimes....

      but now we're going to limit our internet pipelines over irrational fears, what stupidity.

      any threats to the USA from other countries including from China will continue to use the myriad other pipelines already extant.

      Tell that to Tibet, the protesters cutting down the government facial recognition cams, the North Korean defectors talking about Chinese support, locking up Muslims, etc. Perfect example in 2015 human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was "disappeared" by the Chinese government, he was tortured with electric shock, forced to take drugs held for 3x years with no outside communication allowed before he was finally allowed to talk to a defense lawyer and the Chinese government finally publicly acknowledge that he was no longer "missing" and that they had actually been holding him for "subverting state power" and then sentenced to 4.5 years in jail. That wasn't something from decades ago, he was sentenced *this year* in January.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @11:26AM (#59133190)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • You should know that an "attack from a chinese address" is not the same as "attack by the chinese government"

        riots? irrelevant to topic at hand.

        maybe you should stay out of things beyond your ken

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • I'm not left, guess again. nor am I Republican (corporate fascist)

            Addresses owned by a company and not the chinese government. Attacking South Korea. Guess what, the Chinese and South Koreans don't like each other. so what? it's expected.

            This absurd paranoia, about China doing things that the USA is guilty of doing a thousands times as much, is silly. There is zero reason to oppose this fiber, anything the Chinese, government or business, wants to do that is bad can be done over existing connections too

  • The linchpin of all tyranny.

    They are afraid a bunch of 0's and 1's will invade us to death!

    If the connection becomes an issue we can just unplug the fucking things, until then there is going to be no mistake that all sorts of spying and monitoring will be running across those cables.

    but at the very least... the scaremongering by the state will ensure that they get the spying in because the businesses just want the money, they don't care if government spies to do it.

  • Very legit concen (Score:5, Informative)

    by InsaneGeek ( 175763 ) <slashdotNO@SPAMinsanegeeks.com> on Wednesday August 28, 2019 @11:09AM (#59133094) Homepage

    It would appear that if they would simply provide the same guarantees that the Chinese government would not block/tap into the traffic. This implies that they are unwilling to do that and it ultimately is meant to be a Chinese state controlled connection no matter what "private" company is fronting it. It'd be one thing to have a private to point link, but this being a general internet traffic link, it is guaranteed to have traffic not destined to for "the great Chinese firewall" flowing through it; it is a very real concern especially with all the BGP "mistakes" that have occurred directing public traffic between other countries accidentally to China.

  • I'd be willing to bet that the US end of this cable will have its own "Room 614A" [wikipedia.org].

  • ... if the current administration didn't treat legitimate national security concerns as if they were just another trade bargaining chip.

  • No it isn't. Trusting these companies with your data is just stupid. Of course they are going to slurp everything that they can. After all, they paid for the cable and need to show a return for all that capital outlay.
    Doh!

...though his invention worked superbly -- his theory was a crock of sewage from beginning to end. -- Vernor Vinge, "The Peace War"

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