China's listening

Something we need to keep remembering as time goes on is that China is on our telecom networks and we have no way to remove their access.

There are multiple stories on this both in the cyber security realm but also the NYT and The Daily podcast from the NYT. In short, our telecom system is old and new, and because it is a combination of both, it has many back doors and side doors. It's a very insecure system.

As of the end of the year 2024, China is able to listen to any phone call (it goes without saying that warrants are a real thing here) without any kind of notice or warrant. (derrr) They can also read any text that is sent through insecure texting. This is usually between brands. Apple sending to a Google phone won't be encrypted using RCS. Apple to Apple is secure, and I believe, that Google to Google is secure. Apps like Signal can also be used to keep out prying eyes.

Why does any of this matter in our year of the lord, 2025? It matters, because they know who, what, when, and where of many things that want to know, and we can't do anything about it. If we are to consider China a strategic enemy, and they are able to read all our texts, listen to our phone calls, even at the highest level. Trump uses a normal phone, or at least he did as a private citizen. How can you beat a rival nation when you have no secrets?

File this away as something you need to remember, because the Media™ isn't going to remind you, ever.