back to article China tells Trump to use a Huawei phone to avoid eavesdroppers

Cheeky Huawei has advised the President of the United States to use one of its own Chinese-designed phones to avoid eavesdropping. The New York Times reported this week that alongside his government-issued secure line, Donald Trump frequently made calls to associates using a regular old insecure consumer network and his …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think we should spare a thought for the poor operatives that have to sit and actually listen to the calls, it's bad enough seeing his twitter in the news all the time. How does bullshit and bluster translate in to Chinese and Russian these days?

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Could easily be included in the list of worst jobs in the world

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Paris Hilton

        There's a man whose job is to live in a shed inside the Gomantong bat caves, Borneo, as a security guard to stop the edible birds nests being stolen. Having visited these fascinating and disgusting caves, this truly is the worst job in the world. Even worse than being on with Windows 10 beta programme (i.e. a 'customer').

        Paris, because, why not?

    2. Crisp

      Pity the poor operatives that have to monitor the bedrooms at the Whitehouse and Mar a largo.

    3. J. R. Hartley

      A quick check: Nope, not The Onion. Nope, not April 1st.

      Fuck me.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I frequently have difficulty understanding both Rap Music and the President...

      Both (I’ve been told) you can’t take literally...

      I don’t know about that.

      All I can say, is I’m less embarrassed when listening to Rap Music.

      1. Dave_uk
        Facepalm

        re: All I can say, is I’m less embarrassed when listening to Rap Music.

        >All I can say, is I’m less embarrassed when listening to Rap Music.

        you have Donald.

        Where as we in the UK have Brexit.

        <sarcasm>Hooray</sarcasm>

    5. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      "How does bullshit and bluster translate in to Chinese and Russian these days"

      It just sounds a lot like what Demo[n,c][R,r]ats say. Shouldn't be any of THAT coming from Trump's phone.

      (yeah anti-Trump'ers go ahead and downvote me, it's a badge of honor)

      funny joke about the Huawei phone, though.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        "It just sounds a lot like what Demo[n,c][R,r]ats say. Shouldn't be any of THAT coming from Trump's phone."

        Why would you assume that anyone criticising Trump is a Democrat? Some vocal critics are senior republicans, others are just amused outsiders who don't even live in the US and are watching the soap opera. Yet others are just so jaded by politics that we criticise all of them, saving our votes for the currently least worst evil and then criticise them anyway.

      2. Potemkine! Silver badge

        Are you planning to buy some AR-15s and randomly shoot people at a democratic convention or just make pipe bombs?

    6. BillG
      Angel

      China tells Trump to use a Huawei phone to avoid eavesdroppers

      Reminds me of when Pres. Jimmy Carter built a new embassy in the Soviet Union: "Russia tells Carter to build embassy using Russian labor to avoid eavesdroppers".

      An inspection months later revealed eavesdropping equipment burrowed deeply into walls, the foundation, light fixtures, floors, ceilings...

  2. sisk

    Use a Chinese phone to avoid eavesdroppers? Yeah, I'll file that one with juggling flaming torches to avoid getting burned.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Where he tweets from?

    Maybe he type his tweets on an old typewriter, and give the sheet to an aide to tweet on his behalf? Or maybe he just shout at the aide? Because I'm not sure he could do it from a PC or tablet... and why a secure government phone should have Twitter installed?

    1. Rich 11

      Re: Where he tweets from?

      He uses an iPhone to send his tweets. The iPhone his security people told him to stop using. And then -- get this, it'll really surprise you -- he lies about it.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Where he tweets from?

        All an SS7 exploit needs is a phone number, so racist grandpa's gone and given his to his best pals Putin and Kim Jong-un and spends all day every day on Twitter. What could possibly go wrong?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where he tweets from?

          so racist grandpa....

          IME there's few other types, in all societies.

          It annoys clueless Western liberals a treat to remind them that racism is a truly global currency. Fortunately they can't accept that, so there's endless joy in reminding them of this reality, time and again.

          1. Dan 55 Silver badge

            Re: Where he tweets from?

            Where did I say there weren't any other kinds of racists?

            But thank you for reminding the commentariat. If you weren't there to keep us on our toes I don't know what we'd do.

      2. sisk

        Re: Where he tweets from?

        And then -- get this, it'll really surprise you -- he lies about it.

        What? A politician who's holding a high office in the US lying? Say it isn't so!

        1. Rich 11

          Re: Where he tweets from?

          It ain't so.

          (I'm lying.)

        2. Old Coot

          Re: Where he tweets from?

          What? A politician who's holding a high office in the US lying?

          Almost as incredible as a politician who doesn't try to keep his campaign promises.

          Oh, wait...

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Where he tweets from?

        So, anonymously sourced story about Trump, and you swallow it whole, because....TDS ?

        Even if true, how easy is it to eavesdrop on a late model iPhone anyway ? Maybe using a faked base station - and the likelihood of one of those in range of the White House is ...???

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Cautioned government buyers"?

    Trump banned them himself:

    https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/13/17686310/huawei-zte-us-government-contractor-ban-trump

    Though he probably doesn't remember what he did a couple of months ago. Not that the god-emperor is senile or anything...he knows exactly what he's doing :/

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Imagine what he'd say if Hillary had done this?

    He'd probably stop asking to lock her up and suggest she should be executed. Double standard for Trump and his supporters, as ever.

    It is a bit cheeky of Huawei to suggest this, as if the brand of phone would even matter for one that doesn't use mil spec encryption, verify it is connected to a legitimate cell site, etc. The secure ones the government hands out probably have a special baseband that's had all the "bugs" the NSA get Qualcomm & Intel to insert in theirs removed.

    1. onefang
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Imagine what he'd say if Hillary had done this?

      "The secure ones the government hands out probably have a special baseband that's had all the "bugs" the NSA get Qualcomm & Intel to insert in theirs removed."

      You think the NSA isn't bugging Trump? They unofficially bug everyone else, so why not?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Imagine what he'd say if Hillary had done this?

        If they wanted to bug him they wouldn't need to bug his phone, they'd bug the cell repeaters in the White House.

    2. I3N
      Pint

      Re: Imagine what he'd say if Hillary had done this?

      So out of character for Hua Chunying to display anything resembling wit ...

      Pints all around if this is the new and improved China foreign ministry ...

      1. Old Coot

        Re: Imagine what he'd say if Hillary had done this?

        They're trolling Trump, just as he does to all and sundry.

        Turnabout is fair play, they say.

      2. I3N
        Pint

        Re: Imagine what he'd say if Hillary had done this?

        Same old Hua

        Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying spoke out in Kong's support on Friday.

        The journalist had been "obstructed in every possible way and even treated roughly" when trying to express her views, Hua told a regular news conference in Beijing.

        "The attitude of the British police has been inconsistent, and makes one suspect the reasons behind it," she said, calling on the U.K. government to "safeguard" bilateral ties.

  6. whoseyourdaddy
    Facepalm

    Why bother with bugging the phone?

    Easier to tap whatever trunk any base station transceiver uses...

    Especially near Trump Golf courses. Guarantee Win!

  7. sanmigueelbeer
    Megaphone

    He doesn't need to use a phone. Donald leaks (info) like a sieve without one.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Wise move

    Of course The Donald won’t use an FBI provided phone, he knows the agency is full of libtards who support Hillary.

    1. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: Wise move

      'full of libtards who support Hillary' - actually, no. Just a handful at the top are like that [the sleazy types that slither their way to the top of ANY kind of organization, actually]. Rank and file FBI are like regular citizens, some support Democrats, some Republicans, and they keep their politics out of their jobs (as they should).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wise move

      Hillary isn't running, the bogeywoman you want is Nancy Pelosi.

      1. David Bond

        Re: Wise move

        But Nancy's emails...... yep still works.

  9. gnasher729 Silver badge

    Why would Huawei be safer?

    Can someone explain to me why a Huawei phone would be safer than an iPhone?

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Why would Huawei be safer?

      Because the Chinese said so, robustly and with sincerity. That means Trump will believe them. Just like with Putin and the Saudis :-)

      1. naive

        Re: Why would Huawei be safer?

        Because the FBI can not eaves drop on president Trump when he uses a Chinese secured phone. As said before in this thread, the FBI is riddled with liberals who willingly use their investigative power to obstruct president Trump his presidency, the less information they can get their greasy fingers on to conjure out of context accusations, the better.

        1. BebopWeBop
          Facepalm

          Re: Why would Huawei be safer?

          As sad by a previous commentard, I checked the Onion and the Mash and checked and no it is not April 1

    2. Patrick R
      Joke

      Re: Why would Huawei be safer?

      Because Vlad also said so. He could even send some specialists to examine the device along with the FBI.

  10. Toilet Duk

    I'd rather the Chinese eavesdropped on me than the NSA and GCHQ anyway.

    Is there any VPN which isn't just a honeypot?

  11. j2f8j8j2fj

    China: "Spying? We'll show you spying. Just buy one of our wireta-...mobile phones."

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like