US Gov't to launch investigation into Lenovo "spy" PCs

As you may recall, way back over a year ago when Lenovo announced its intentions to buy IBM, congress stepped in to call for an investigation to make sure the Commies Chinese megacorp wasn't going to be getting access to anything sensitive or secret in IBM's labs or R&D facilities. Well, obviously everything passed over kosher, but now the US State Department's placing an order for 15,000 Lenovo PCs, and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission wants a thorough look through the machines to ensure they're not rigged with bugs and spyware. Outside dismantling every single PC and freshly installing the OS themselves, we're not sure how they would guarantee they'd be clean, which just goes to show you've really got to trust your PC manufacturer, especially if you're the government. In all reality they're probably more likely to find a Sony backdoor than a Lenovo one, anyway.

[Via BoingBoing]

[Mark @ Mar 28th 2006 9:40AM]

what a job.... having to search through 15,000 Lenovo PCs for bugs and spyware....

[Andy @ Mar 28th 2006 9:46AM]

"..a Sony backdoor than a Lenovo one, anyway"

All right, we get it... you don't like Sony. This is becoming a little ridiculous.

[chris @ Mar 28th 2006 9:55AM]

Nothing like more xenophobic china-bashing by the government.

[Scabies @ Mar 28th 2006 9:56AM]

This is, indeed, a concern. China (or someone using a chinese proxy) has really stepped up electronic espionage in the past year or so.

[Uninvisible @ Mar 28th 2006 9:59AM]

I love the anti-Sony remarks, they're hilarious. I think people also forget that this is a blog and writers can say whatever they want.

[b @ Mar 28th 2006 10:00AM]

I have to go with Andy on this one. We know you don't like Sony. You never even announced PS3fanboy, shoot the link on the right isn't even correct.

[mG @ Mar 28th 2006 10:02AM]

WOW, these guys are realy smart. Lenovo has only been manufacturing IBM branded PCs for several years now.

China sometimes forces manufacturers to use certain security chips with back doors. But I don't know if these have ever been included in any PCs ment for overseas export.

http://english.people.com.cn/200504/12/eng20050412_180617.html

[Rainer @ Oct 18th 2006 6:30AM]

UTIMACO should have been a good master for data encryption ...
http://americas.utimaco.com/ibm/

[austinkennethlee @ Mar 28th 2006 10:07AM]

The anti-Sony sentiment is from their DRM/rootkit CDs. Sony brought it upon themselves.

[Ryan Block @ Mar 28th 2006 10:11AM]

Andy, I think you assume too much. It was a joke. My primary workstation is a Sony, and I've owned tons of Sony devices and computers. The fact of the matter is I love Sony -- we all do at Engadget -- which is exactly why we're so critical of what they do. I would love nothing more for them to stop screwing up and regain their former glory instead of merely being the SonicStage, ATRAC, MemoryStick, MiniDisc, rootkit peddlers they've become in the last ten years.

Best, Ryan

[Osama @ Mar 28th 2006 10:14AM]

Inspired by this wonderfully impartial investigation I decided to conduct my own goose chase into Lenova conspiracies. What I found may shock you !!!!

http://www.lenovotapes.com/

[J @ Mar 28th 2006 10:15AM]

"In all reality they're probably more likely to find a Sony backdoor than a Lenovo one, anyway."

That's just 'cause Lenovo hides their tracks better!

[Gridlock @ Mar 28th 2006 10:28AM]

I hereby nominate PS3RULEZ for the annual "best guerilla marketeer" award - Ken, is that you?

If you want a really good "backdoor" story (heh), try googling INSLAW PROMIS.

[loyukfai @ Mar 28th 2006 10:32AM]

Tell me, where can you find a PC without being manufactured or use a component made in China these days.

IMO, this is political in works and has nothing to do with the claims they're claiming about.

[butkusrules @ Mar 28th 2006 10:36AM]

Screw Sony,

Those basterds have been forcing their propietary crap on us for years but at least it was out in the open-now this CD piracy they are down right unethical. I hope Sony goes down in flames for their blantent disregard for their customers and the market.

[mkh @ Mar 28th 2006 10:53AM]

Sony couldn't find their own backdoor with both hands. But they seem to be pretty good at targeting the consumer's backdoor.

[Jia @ Mar 28th 2006 11:03AM]

well, the US Gov is funny. There are lot stuff made in China. Do they also do a checking on them?

[dextroz @ Mar 28th 2006 11:42AM]

eh... where is backdoor bambie call sony? my search machine throw me here trying to look for her... u guys are the suX0r5... i guess i need to go somewhere else :-(

[jon @ Mar 28th 2006 12:26PM]

"The Commies"...you guys need to work on being less offensive. Not everyone in China is a communist...and chief among those are probably the Chinese Businessman who are benefiting from Chinas ever more capitalistic business climate.

[Thill @ Mar 28th 2006 12:28PM]

#17. Read the article again. THE US STATE DEPARTMENT is buying 15 thousand Lenovo laptops. For those of you who do not realize the State Department has a lot of information that China would love to have (the State Department has a lot of ties to the CIA, DOD, etc).

I do not think this is a stupid move by any means.. Better to be safe than have secrets leak out....

[c.Lake @ Mar 28th 2006 12:46PM]

Well... maybe the U.S. Government should have thought about that -- BEFORE IBM was sold to the Chinese. NOW they want to investigate the possibility of spying?

This is what we call the "morning after". Think before you whore yourself (and our entire country) for money. There's not point "crying wolf" now that the deed is done.

[xumdeo @ Mar 28th 2006 12:48PM]

c'mon think about Boeing (and airbus) planes for all the presidents around the world, you think they're bug free?

it's just a norm to put in backdoors and bugs.

no big deal

[firz @ Mar 28th 2006 12:56PM]

This makes no sense at all. Why not buy from a US manufacturer, HP, Dell, etc..., and not to go through all that s?!t. Your tax money at work, not only it is wasted to rebuild freshly built laptops, but also straight to Chinese government and Chinese businessman pocket. And please no "what about all the workers" we all know they don't get paid even close to fair.

[ikor @ Mar 28th 2006 1:20PM]

Haha. That's funny, and us.gov is funny too.

[Jimmie @ Mar 28th 2006 1:41PM]

That is funny because I work for the US Marine Corps and am typing this on a Dell laptop that was made in CHINA. Go figure. Dell computers made in CHINA popluate the entire Navy and Marine Corps (courtesy of the NMCI contract) to include units deployed in Iraq and units that deal with classified information. It bothered me a few years back when we received these and it still does. How can we say there is a military technology gap between the US and China when we are using Chinese made electronics? Duh!

[strider_mt2k @ Mar 28th 2006 1:54PM]

I knew the I in IBM was following me.
And those fellows at Radio Shack called me mad. MAD!

[selrahc @ Mar 28th 2006 2:10PM]

This is just the same xenophobia that happened when that dubai based company was hired to manage the ports ans everyone over-reacted.

[Jeff @ Mar 28th 2006 2:29PM]

"There are lot stuff made in China. Do they also do a checking on them?"

If they're made for the US government, then yes.

I don't see what the big deal is. It's a security review of a foreign-made product from a country known well to be spying on the United States (as we are on them). Would you all call it "xenophobic" if the Chinese ordered a security review of a bunch of US-made computers intended for use by the Chinese government?

[r19578 @ Mar 28th 2006 2:48PM]

woo...that's something in the 3rd clip!

[Lionel Mandrake @ Mar 28th 2006 2:50PM]

Perhaps it's just that some of the old timers in the US State Department haven't forgotten the historically famous trojan that they themselves pulled off a by intercepting a shipment of IBM Selectrics to a sensitive Russian diplomatic post. A few internal adjustments to these units made them quite capable of "broadcasting" content production over the AC line to a greater distance and degree than was currently capable in the non-Tempest hardware of the day.

Assume that hidden deep in the Lenovo microcode could be any number of micro-trojans that would be quite capable of performing similar "phoning-home" functions.

A zillion lines of code. Just "adjust" a few lines with clever subtlty and the data collection process is "ON"...

Unethical? Get real, please.

LM

[Brian @ Mar 28th 2006 3:04PM]

If I was a foreign investor with political ties in a computer-industry
dominated country, and I had money in a large computer company that
another prominent country was purchasing hardware from, I would
probably think it would be a great idea to take advantage of the
niavety of said purchasing country to gain political insight. Or I would at least be very humored by that country after they dismantled 15,000 computers in a paranoid frenzy.

[daschupa @ Mar 28th 2006 3:12PM]

Geez, fanboys get like your insulting their wives (and in most cases the closest thing they'll have to one) when you make fun of a company. Anyhoo, Sony Music is the sux and their act of terrorism shall not go unnoted.

Anyhoo, I wonder if the government IT doesn't just do its own installs on the computers to ensure no back door software. Though, last I heard the FBI was still using Windows, so it already comes with bugs and spyware. *puts on flame retardant suit*

[blee @ Mar 28th 2006 3:17PM]

"This makes no sense at all. Why not buy from a US manufacturer, HP, Dell, etc..., and not to go through all that s?!t. Your tax money at work, not only it is wasted to rebuild freshly built laptops, but also straight to Chinese government and Chinese businessman pocket. And please no "what about all the workers" we all know they don't get paid even close to fair."

You realize that none of the "manufactures" you listed actually manufacture any of their products in the US?

[Perrey Z. @ Mar 28th 2006 7:29PM]

As much as i like to add my 2-cents and write a joke or a few comments regarding Sony's quality, even though i have a VAIO laptop and a few other Sony products the issue here is LE-NO-VO, NOT Sony. And Lenovo's discuse as a innocent computer company taking over IBM's ThinkPad business. Hasn't anybody ask themselves Why IBM? and not DELL? which is a very profitable company not only in the U.S., but in Europe, particulary in the U.K. and Japan. The Communist have other intentions with this purchase, and has nothing to do with been competetive outside China.

Our goverment is kinda late to regret allowing a communist-own company to take over the consumer arm of a U.S. corporation which does business with them. Even though they didn't purchase anything that will jeopardize national security or defense secrets, {or so we think} the whole investigation is plain stupid, they should have say "NO" when they had the opportunity and stay firm in that decision., But, God bless America, for been so stupid and selling everything that was ours to foreigners.

None of these countries; China, Japan, UAE allow American firms to own 100% of their local companies, why do WE have to be the exception?, I'll tell you why, because this country is run by jackals, who are there in Capitol Hill getting blow jobs by their interns, passing stupid laws in favor of the rich and fucking around this country {that one is for George W. Bush} instead of having a strong hand when it comes to protecting OUR corporations and limiting foreign investments and acquisitions to a minimum non-controlling stake or not permiting it at all, and not to just a few key industries, but to everything, even to the smallest lemonade stand in the corner. {figure speaking}

And to light my note above here's a bit of FYI for thouse of you who have't purchase a Lenovo product., they have THE worst costumer service available, {Worst that DELL, and Gateway, BTW} their representatives are based in Atlanta which in a way for a change from the overseas-broken-english-speaking-call-centers is good, but oh boy!, they don't know ANYTHING!, they don't even address technical problems with the right technical terms., just alot of "this thingy", "that thingy", "i don't know what to tell you", "might be the..." If you ever have a problem with their product, praise the good lord you'll be able to fix it on your own before calling them.

[xumdeo @ Mar 28th 2006 10:56PM]

yeah and nobody talks about SINGAPORE? and they never get raided on UN?? becasue they have money? because they're too small? china adopted their censorship technology from singapore, nowhere else

[Eric @ Mar 28th 2006 11:02PM]

haha sony's really getting dookied on for their rootkit

[eric @ Mar 29th 2006 3:35AM]

#34

Communist by name *IN THE PAST* you redneck! Now its a free capitalist economy owning the american economy when it comes to growth. I'd shut up if i were you.
The next time u do ur 'commie' insults *directed at engadget*. The police will be in Chinatown looking for your bodies.

[firz @ Mar 29th 2006 6:43PM]

33. "This makes no sense at all. Why not buy from a US manufacturer, HP, Dell, etc..., and not to go through all that s?!t. Your tax money at work, not only it is wasted to rebuild freshly built laptops, but also straight to Chinese government and Chinese businessman pocket. And please no "what about all the workers" we all know they don't get paid even close to fair."

You realize that none of the "manufactures" you listed actually manufacture any of their products in the US?

I realize that they don't manufacture the components, but these components are tested and assembled in the US. I enjoyed my Dell plant tour in Austin.

[Ian @ Mar 30th 2006 5:11AM]

uhhh... #38, do read read many news stories? china may be freeing itself up economically, but political freedom and a lot of the general 'good stuff' is still severely limited. Opposition leaders are beaten up and disappear, there is rampant censorship and all-round supression of human rights/democracy. Just ask Taiwan.

[Bill Maidens @ Mar 31st 2006 3:02PM]

One of the people had it right. All, not some, of the laptops are made in China (PRC), so what is the point of this whole topic? I have watched them come down the line at Legend and most say "Made in the USA". The Chinese do not have the time, or the inclination to try and put "spy" devices, either hardware or software, in the laptops, or the desktops. They would be out of business so fast they would not have time to get the doors closed.

[Earl Turner @ Aug 8th 2008 12:17PM]

Reading this group of comments has painfully reminded me of how naive many US citizens have become of the autocratic, commie gangsters that run China. I traveled there through Canada in 1971 and first hand witnessed the unfairness of the system. In Peking, when a siren sounded the bus I was on suddenly entered a tunnel which ran under the city that opened into a football stadium sized shelter. Less than 2 years before in march 1969 a border skirmish with Russia almost led to a world war. We've made a terrible mistake not bombing them to the stone age. They are a ruthless, two-faced menace! In the US, I along with other anticommunist, civil defensed trained citizens have confronted and beatened these thieves w/o mercy in Silicon valley, Texas, etc... Until these yellow spies are driven from our country. No one is safe. Look what happened to Black folks in China last fall, called the Sanlutin Incident. Believe me the ethnic Han of China would have no problem exterminating every Negro in the world. We have been free to kidnap these spies on our soil, but this chapter is closing. Unionize Walmart like they are doing in China. The leadership has given the green light to liquidate Walmart executives and their families if they try to stop the 'new' unionizing effort in China. Payback is a bastard!

[Tim @ Apr 30th 2006 1:06PM]

#40.
Ok genius, Communism is an economic system, not a political system. China is a capitalistic oligarchy, so what? So was Taiwan, South Korea, and all the other asian tiger economies, democracy will come eventually once people get richer. Back to the topic at hand, I think the U.S is insecure because it knows what it would do if given the chance.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1769642.stm

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