Posted on 08/24/2007 7:32:31 PM PDT by milestogo
Chinese Seek to Buy a U.S. Maker of Disk Drives
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 24 — A Chinese technology company has expressed interest in buying a maker of computer disk drives in the United States, raising concerns among American government officials about the risks to national security in transferring high technology to China.
The overture, which was disclosed by the chief executive of one of the two remaining drive makers in the United States, William D. Watkins of Seagate Technology, has resurrected the issues of economic competitiveness and national security raised three years ago when Lenovo, a Chinese computer maker, bought I.B.M.’s personal computer business.
Tensions have been increasing lately between the countries over China’s ambitions in developing its military abilities and advanced technologies for industrial and consumer uses.
Although disk drives do not fall under a list of export-controlled technologies, the attempted purchase of an American disk drive company would require a security review by the federal government, according to several government officials.
In recent years, modern disk drives, used to store vast quantities of digital information securely, have become complex computing systems, complete with hundreds of thousands of lines of software that are used to ensure the integrity of data and to offer data encryption.
That could raise the prospect of secret tampering with hardware or software to make it possible to pilfer information via computer networks, intelligence officials have warned.
“The U.S. government is freaking out,” Mr. Watkins said during an interview on Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I’d tell the ChiComs to shove their offer where the sun doesn’t shine.
bttt
So, will they make the drives out of lead, cadmium, and human waste?
Absolutely not. You think they couldn’t (or rather, wouldn’t) bury software to track and read your data? I will NEVER buy a Seagate drive if the sale goes through.
That was my thinking.
We buy a lot of chicom products. They got a lot of dollars. What the hell they supposed to do with them? And don’t say put them where the sun don’t shine. We called the tune, now we pay the piper.
Seagate is garbage anyway.
I’ve always been a WD guy anyway.
“We called the tune, now we pay the piper.”
Oh for the love of god ...
Come on, we bought their stuff and paid in dollars. Now they want to buy some of our stuff. I dont’ like it, but they got the money.
I always wonder if they built in anything special.
I hope you know that there are actually only two manufacturers in the USA now. Seagate and IBM. Does WD make drives at all? If so, where?
You think they couldn’t (or rather, wouldn’t) bury software to track and read your data?A data stealing trojan would have to be built into the firmware of the drive. I'm no expert but that would be very very hard to do.
china and quality should never even be mentioned together in any conversation. Not looking to argue about china and the crap they pull, just a prediction.
They really NEED HILLARY CLINTON or OBAMA bin laden to be elected...
“So, will they make the drives out of lead, cadmium, and human waste?”
Don’t forget the Melamine!
Plus, they’ll turn to crap. You’ll lose data in a week, if the thing is still working. I know this first-hand.
I hope that doesn’t go through. I’d like to still be able to buy SOMETHING not connected to the Chinese.
Do they actually make these things here, or is it sent out?
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