[HN Gopher] An ARM Server That Is Banned in the US
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       An ARM Server That Is Banned in the US
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2022-08-05 16:18 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.servethehome.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.servethehome.com)
        
       | classichasclass wrote:
       | The undocumented BMC is what gives me the most pause.
        
         | Patrick-STH wrote:
         | That one was an eye opener for me too.
        
         | 1-6 wrote:
         | "There is also a BMC based on a chip we could not find
         | information on via Google."
         | 
         | Red flags, literally.
        
       | justsomehnguy wrote:
       | It's been a while since I worked with Huawei servers (x64
       | though).
       | 
       | Their build quality is decent, but the firmware were not quite up
       | the game at that time. But they pumped new revisions like hot
       | cakes.
       | 
       | > Many companies in China are choosing Ampere over these Huawei
       | Kunpeng 920 chips, and it seems like that is for good reason.
       | Ampere Altra Max is twice the core count per socket and is
       | socketed.
       | 
       | I guess whats when you can choose your platform. This one is for
       | the government.
        
       | phendrenad2 wrote:
       | It's hard for my brain to accept that the US literally bans its
       | citizens from selling equipment containing chips from Huawei. You
       | can't even sell them for reverse-engineering or hobby purposes.
        
         | einarfd wrote:
         | Huawei and the USA has some history. The first Huawei product
         | was a line of routers that had the same names (Cisco gave all
         | their routers a numbers as their names), same features, ports,
         | command interface, and even same bugs. As the corresponding
         | Cisco routers.
        
           | count wrote:
           | Don't forget that was a _joint effort_ by 3Com w /Huawei.
           | 
           | The debug messages even still said Cisco. It was ridiculous.
        
             | CodeSgt wrote:
             | Wow! I've never heard of thus. How were the counterfeit
             | servers eventually discovered to be counterfeits? Sounds
             | like this went pretty deep.
        
         | pixl97 wrote:
         | There are tens of thousands of pages of products that cannot be
         | imported into the US from particular companies. This is not
         | particularly unique. Start importing stuff from around the
         | world and you'll quickly find yourself in deep legal trouble if
         | you do not understand the law here.
         | 
         | This isn't just the US either. I would say the vast majority of
         | countries have comprehensive import laws.
        
           | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
           | I had a customer in Italy once. There is a such a
           | ridiculously long list of items that can't be imported into
           | Italy that I can understand why so many companies don't take
           | overseas orders.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | pipeline_peak wrote:
         | Huawei has also faced allegations that it has engaged in
         | corporate espionage to steal competitors' intellectual
         | property, and in 2019, was restricted from performing commerce
         | with U.S. companies, over allegations that it willfully
         | exported technology of U.S. origin to Iran in violation of U.S.
         | sanctions.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Huawei
        
         | wbsss4412 wrote:
         | What's hard to accept about it?
         | 
         | The US has existed in a state of national security paranoia for
         | a long time.
        
           | toolz wrote:
           | Yeah, I mean there are a lot of things the US does that
           | appears "normalized" to the point that you maybe just see an
           | angry tweet about it every now and then, but that's it. Those
           | things are still hard for me to accept.
           | 
           | e.g.congress from both parties have what feels to me like
           | extreme conflicts of interest when dominating the stock
           | market (handily beating out every hedge fund returns across
           | many congress members). It's like sports players being able
           | to bet on the outcome of their own game, when they are almost
           | capable of guaranteeing a certain outcome.
        
           | beefok wrote:
           | It's not paranoia when foreign adversaries actually _DO_
           | attack national security.
        
             | wbsss4412 wrote:
             | 1. I never said it was unfounded.
             | 
             | 2. I'm unaware of an instance where huawei was used to
             | attack the US.
        
         | beebmam wrote:
         | There's good reason: Huawei is entirely owned by the Communist
         | Chinese government, a government which has shown itself to be
         | committed against American interests and democratic interests
         | around the world, and a government which has itself ordered
         | Huawei to use its technology to spy on its political
         | enemies.[1][2]
         | 
         | 1. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/30/huawei-china-
         | business-r... 2.
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Huawei#Espionage_...
        
         | someweirdperson wrote:
         | You can't even have chocolate with toys inside [0]. Think of
         | the children!
         | 
         | [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise
        
         | lovingCranberry wrote:
         | This made me think of the encryption export ban. Looks like
         | there are still some restrictions:
         | 
         | > Militarized encryption equipment, TEMPEST-approved
         | electronics, custom cryptographic software, and even
         | cryptographic consulting services still require an export
         | license[9](pp. 6-7). Furthermore, encryption registration with
         | the BIS is required for the export of "mass market encryption
         | commodities, software and components with encryption exceeding
         | 64 bits" (75 FR 36494). In addition, other items require a one-
         | time review by, or notification to, BIS prior to export to most
         | countries.[9] For instance, the BIS must be notified before
         | open-source cryptographic software is made publicly available
         | on the Internet, though no review is required.[10]
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_th...
        
           | bpye wrote:
           | I wonder what counts as "custom cryptographic software"?
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | deepdriver wrote:
         | Huawei destroyed Nortel through grand-scale espionage and
         | robbery. They openly support the Uighur concentration camps and
         | totalitarian surveillance in China's Xinjiang province. Banning
         | import of their products to the US and Canada is a moral,
         | economic, and strategic imperative.
         | 
         | https://aragonresearch.com/cyber-war-flashback-the-huawei-ha...
         | 
         | https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/14/22834860/huawei-leaked-d...
        
           | bell-cot wrote:
           | > Huawei destroyed Nortel through grand-scale espionage and
           | robbery.
           | 
           | At least according to Wikipedia (
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortel#Accounting_restatements
           | ), Nortel had some epic accounting issues long before the
           | hacks (of both Nortel & Cisco) which your source claims.
           | Cisco is still around.
           | 
           | Perhaps Nortel self-destructed, with no more help from Haiwei
           | than Enron or Bernie Madoff needed, and it feels better to
           | blame Dark Lord China for Bad_Thing happening?
        
             | deepdriver wrote:
             | The hacking of Nortel, which goes back at least to the year
             | 2000, started around the same time Dunn began messing with
             | the numbers:
             | 
             | https://archive.ph/TZM9A
             | 
             | Whatever other issues Nortel had, the theft of their IP,
             | internal communications, and strategic plans certainly
             | didn't help.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-05 23:01 UTC)