EU Issues US-bound Staff With Burner Phones Over Spying Fears (ft.com) 70
The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage [non-paywalled source], a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China. Financial Times: Commissioners and senior officials travelling to the IMF and World Bank spring meetings next week have been given the new guidance, according to four people familiar with the situation. They said the measures replicate those used on trips to Ukraine and China, where standard IT kit cannot be brought into the countries for fear of Russian or Chinese surveillance.
"They are worried about the US getting into the commission systems," said one official. The treatment of the US as a potential security risk highlights how relations have deteriorated since the return of Donald Trump as US president in January. Trump has accused the EU of having been set up to "screw the US" and announced 20 per cent so-called reciprocal tariffs on the bloc's exports, which he later halved for a 90-day period.
At the same time, he has made overtures to Russia, pressured Ukraine to hand over control over its assets by temporarily suspending military aid and has threatened to withdraw security guarantees from Europe, spurring a continent-wide rearmament effort. "The transatlantic alliance is over," said a fifth EU official.
"They are worried about the US getting into the commission systems," said one official. The treatment of the US as a potential security risk highlights how relations have deteriorated since the return of Donald Trump as US president in January. Trump has accused the EU of having been set up to "screw the US" and announced 20 per cent so-called reciprocal tariffs on the bloc's exports, which he later halved for a 90-day period.
At the same time, he has made overtures to Russia, pressured Ukraine to hand over control over its assets by temporarily suspending military aid and has threatened to withdraw security guarantees from Europe, spurring a continent-wide rearmament effort. "The transatlantic alliance is over," said a fifth EU official.
Well (Score:3)
But I had Burner Laptops to use even when going places in the US from the US years ago. Only makes sense. And anyone having sensitive info on their telephone should expect it getting breached and held responsible for their idiocy.
Re:Well (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Well (Score:5, Insightful)
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It's already affecting conferences and business events. Has been for years, but it's accelerated now.
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Tourists [to the USA] need burner phones now as well...
Or, just don't visit the ShitHole known as the USA.
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At some point they'll just start making visitors log in to their social media accounts from kiosks, and giving them boot anyways.
Lesson to all non-Americans, don't go to the United States.
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But I had Burner Laptops to use even when going places in the US from the US years ago.
Same here, this is really not new. When we had to travel to the US for business, we only took tiny encrypted microSD cards with us, from which we would install a blanked laptop when at the destination in the US (not with Windows or other US-made operating systems, of course).
Espionage on business travelers has been rampant on US-borders for a long time - not quite because of political repression or such, but just because numerous assholes involved with "border security" consider every foreign laptop a free
Lol (Score:1, Informative)
Re: Lol (Score:3)
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Strangely enough, it is safer to buy a laptop from Walmart, than to order equipment from a specialized supplier.
Sure, so long as you bring your own OS install media, since the OS on that laptop from Walmart is itself spyware.
Security Risk - not why (Score:2, Informative)
We got caught red handed spying on Germany and others during the Obama years. The cat is completely out of the bag even from a plausibility deniability standpoint. Everybody spies..Everybody knows it.
If the EU was really scandalized by the USA eavesdropping on their diplomats this would have been policy a decade ago or longer.
What this says is, is just them saying you can't trust us. Our people here are like your people in the EU probably really spies. We are going to be exploring ways to sabotage America
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We were prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt and write off Trump's first term as an aberration. But you elected him again. It looks like this is the new normal.
Yet they choose to go alon
There goes tourism (Score:1)
The next step is clearly to sell the phone you don't trust on the US side of the border rather than return with it- why give any exit control personnel access to any data you acquired while here? And now that you're selling it, you're evading our brilliant America First tariffs. So now we need to assess a 184% tariff on any phone that any tourist brings with them.
Re:There goes tourism (Score:5, Informative)
> The final death rattle of US-bound tourism, as if it wasn't terminally ill to begin with.
Speaking for New York, we're part of a nation of 335 million people. Domestic tourism alone can keep NY's tourist industry propped up. Its just that the tourist that required a visa usually have more spending money and superior manners.
Re:There goes tourism (Score:5, Informative)
Tourism is between 5-10% of US exports.
Not a huge portion, but certainly significant, and losing it will further make the trade balance negative.
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The US is ~25% of the world's GDP.
Not for much longer thanks to MAGA
I'm sure American tourism, products, and purchases can be replaced by the third world.
You do realize America has a massive trade deficit right...
We subsidize your social welfare systems by protecting you
If you're Israel maybe. If you're Ukraine, not so much.
American made pharma
LOL Trump is about to tariff that too. Since America has a deficit there also.
Good luck with you even higher prices if you "stop exporting them cheap". You'll have to pay for 100% of the development costs without any sales outside America. Making Americas ridiculously expensive healthcare even more expensive.
But it's ok, the American people are generous like that.
Even if your fantasy version were true. Trump is flip
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The US is ~25% of the world's GDP. ... You need us a lot more than we need you.
Not for much longer, mate. You don't produce anything the rest of the world can't (literally: that's Trump's justification for tariffs - to actually get America to produce stuff).
Yes, it will hurt the rest of the world to pivot away from the US. But ultimately it will hurt the US a lot more.
Re:There goes tourism (Score:5, Interesting)
Ok, go look up what countries are net food importers vs net food exporters and come back to let me know how the rest of the world can do without us.
https://wisconsinwatch.org/202... [wisconsinwatch.org]
The very first sentence: "The value of food imported into the U.S. exceeds what is exported."
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US soybean exports to China fell to 18% of the total the last time the idiot was in charge, and China didn't starve. Brazil will be only too happy to pick up the rest of the difference this time as well.
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Ukraine has just checkmated Trump.
After years of Trump painting Ukrainians as "ungrateful", President Zelensky has flipped the script and offered to pay up to $50 billion for American military equipment.
No "handouts". No "aid" but a weapons deal of historic proportions.
Trump didn’t see this coming, and now he’s trapped.
If he accepts the deal, he betrays his boss, Vladimir Putin—helping Ukraine win the war.
If he rejects it, he betrays the American people—turning down tens of
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You forgot medical and pharmaceutical advances. the US lets the pharmaceutical industry rape its customers to provide the 0.1% the bleeding edge medical tech and treatments, and then lets the rest of the world access it for a lower price than Americans. Granted, one can blame American voter stupidity for that, but it doesn't change the overall point.
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> The final death rattle of US-bound tourism, as if it wasn't terminally ill to begin with.
Speaking for New York, we're part of a nation of 335 million people. Domestic tourism alone can keep NY's tourist industry propped up. Its just that the tourist that required a visa usually have more spending money and superior manners.
Remember that half of those 335 million people consider New York to be the Liberal Devil incarnate... not that they'd have the money to travel to begin with.
Places like NYC are going to feel the pinch first as international tourists go to places like NYC, LA, Las Vegas, et al. Bumfuck, Nebroma really won't because the only time they get a foreigner is when some poor Canadian gets lost, I mean really lost, not just a "should have taken a left at Edmonton".
Also it's not just international tourism drying
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> not that they'd have the money to travel to begin with.
The reality is that as relatively important international tourism is for NYC, the overwhelming amount of tourist dollars is domestic. NYC is a lot cheaper way to see "the world" than actually flying to those places. Especially now with the utterly unnecessary inclusion of US tourism in the tariff war...
I'm not here to defend MAGA retardation. I just don't believe good discourse is served by presenting pro or anti bubble, factually flawed argume
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Now that the agents have been given more freedom to be asshats und
Bourne Movie Scene (Score:3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
But let me guess (Score:5, Interesting)
The systems they left in the EU were likely running Windows connected to Windows Updates.
The US in in those computers any time they want to be.
The stupid part (Score:2)
would be if they have only started issuing burner phones.
I've always taken a burner with me when leaving the US or going to a coastline and I'm a natural born citizen.
The current setup is a cheap older pixel with GrapheneOS installed a few family contacts, the only apps is Mullvad dns/vpn and Session.
When leaving the country a fresh air-gaped MacBook Air 13 or a MS Surface 13. OS isn't important as that will get wiped on first use it's about hardware compatibility.
I'm not even that paranoid, nothing really
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The stupid part would be if they have only started issuing burner phones.
It says they already issued burner phones to destinations where Chinese or Russians are able to spy.
Which means they think the US might use any information to cause them damage, or might leak the information to those who would. That's a pretty harsh statement.
Not enough. (Score:3)
It doesn't matter which country they are going to, they should always be using encrypted phones. Burner SIMs clearly aren't enough because governments can demand access to phone networks. Trusting high-level government officials is one thing but you can't trust their intelligence agents to not spy on people because their job is to be paranoid which is why anyone important that is visiting another nation should be paranoid. To that end, end-to-end encrypted systems should be used for anything and everything even remotely official.
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A phone network doesn't give you access to anything other than my location and anyone I choose to contact via that phone network (which is nobody, these days other services are the norm). The concern here has nothing to do with general networks, it has to do with sweeping powers of border agents to physically access your device.
Interestingly countries that I have a concern about doing just that are USA, Russia and China. Can we stop calling the USA an ally and start referring to them as the frenemy they are
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...says the Anonymous Coward.
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while Zelensky refuses to be realistic or hold elections
He cannot do something that's illegal. The US tried bribing Ukrainian legislators to make that legal. They all refused.
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In 2013 it was just unpleasant and possibly politically shocking coming from a friend, but of no consequence. Right now they aren't sure that the collected data will still be used for peaceful purposes.
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A break from what? There was mass outrage over what happened in 2013. If I punch you in the face today, does that mean I get a free pass to do it again tomorrow while I say "give me a break, you had this yesterday!"
The whole point of the story is that the USA still can't be trusted.
Common sense & the right to disconnect (Score:4, Insightful)
I always use a burner phone on holidays, regardless of whether it's US or any other part of the world.
Three reasons:
1. Risk of data collection at the border.
2. Risk of theft at the beach, hotel, etc. With a burner I don't need to worry too much if it is lost. Peace of mind on holidays is key.
3. Disconnecting from everyday life, other peoples dramas and demands. I'm on holiday. Your personal problems can wait until I'm back.
I'm shocked, shocked...well not that shocked... (Score:5, Insightful)
"The transatlantic alliance is over,"
Which is exactly what Putin wanted.
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MAGA, sincere, intelligent. Pick two.
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engage the US in trade talks
How about the shiny new US/Canada/Mexico trade agreement Trump himself negotiated last time? Do you figure he forgot?
You want to renegotiate something, ask like a fucking adult. Hundreds of years from now schoolchildren around the world will read about America's laughing stock era and their clown president.
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"The transatlantic alliance is over,"
Which is exactly what Putin wanted.
Putin may be a power-obsessed war criminal, but he is not quite behind every stupid policy decision in "the West". The whole "US spies on everyone, and border security extracts information for fun and profit" thing began long before anyone even suggested "Russian influence" on US politics.
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The end of the practical participation of US in NATO is a major strategic victory for Russia, say very close to "Russia on the way to win the cold war" if we consider the gap between the end of USSR and the rise of Putin as a short break. Putin might not be behind in the sense making phone calls for this to happen, but he is in the sense that the benefit to him is so evident that whoever made the decision (or was an adviser in the process) had to factor in the benefit to Russia and the damage to Europe in t
Next step: El Salvador care package (Score:2)
Next step is to bring an El Salvador care package. I don't know much about that, so I asked Gemini what items would be good to bring with you to a prison in El Salvador.
First of all, "Navigating the prison system in any country can be complex, and El Salvador has its own specific regulations and conditions. It's crucial to understand that prison conditions in El Salvador are reported to be harsh, with severe overcrowding, limited access to basic necessities, and a strict regime. Recent reports from human ri
Oh baloney. (Score:1)