• Data Protection

  War on Chinese tech is a way for the US to continue spying on YOU

  Posted by Nigel Brown on 5 January 2021 at 6:38 pm

  America has been increasingly concerned about the potential for surveillance from leading Chinese tech companies. But a new report suggests the US is primarily concerned with maintaining its own dominance of digital espionage.

  Claiming that companies such as Huawei, ZTE, Bytedance (the owner of TikTok) and many more are extensions of China’s surveillance state and are used to spy on people, the White House has sought to penalize them with sanctions, bans and export blacklistings, while encouraging other countries to shun them in the same way.

  The narrative of the threat of Huawei, in particular, is one that has been largely taken at face value by the mainstream media in the west, with virtually no questioning of America’s motivations.

  While one can talk about the US deliberately aiming to contain China’s technological rise to its own strategic ends, what if there was another angle to this saga? What if this crusade against Chinese firms was more about America’s ability to spy unhindered on us.

  On this premise, it must be noted that it is Washington that has crafted and spearheaded the world of internet surveillance. It’s a trend which massively accelerated following 9/11 and the dramatic expansion of the National Security Agency (NSA).

  Let us not forget that all of the world’s major internet companies – such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook – are American. Through programs such as Prism and xkeyscore they supply data to the US government. It is nigh on impossible for one’s data to avoid going through the US, which has enabled Washington to build a surveillance network with global reach.

  Clearly, the rise of China as a growing internet and telecommunications player automatically challenges the dominance of the Americans and, as per the report, is allowing Beijing to undermine the operations of the CIA, which it is often the target of.

  In 2017, the New York Times reported that China had successfully crippled CIA operations inside the country, showing the strength of its counter-espionage operation. Even if we recognize that allegations against companies such as Huawei have been opportunistic, it is implausible to deny the reality that with China’s strides in artificial intelligence and in other domains, its own espionage capabilities have become highly sophisticated.

  And so, by default, Beijing has become a threat in an area which America has long dominated as the only major player. Thus, by aiming to contain leading Chinese technology companies, Washington is seeking to maintain its status as the world’s centre of gravity on the internet and, by extension, espionage.

  

  Nigel Brown replied 3 years, 9 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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