Can't we build our own rolling stock?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/could-a-chinese-made-metro-car-spy-on-us-many-experts-say-yes/ar-BBRWLdf?ocid=spartandhp
American manufacturers left the passenger car market decades ago. Most American-built cars are the products of American subsidiaries of foreign firms (Siemens, Bombardier, Alstom, Nippon Sharyo, etc.).
Easier to just exploit the server storing all the camera footage.
I'd be more concerned about them hiding an atomic bomb in the thing.
Just kidding!
Seriously though, and just for everyone's information, I just retired from Ricoh-USA and one of the requirements for sales of any Ricoh equipment to any US governmental agency was that ALL of the circuit boards in the machines had to be made in Japan and NOT in China, since all the copiers are network-capable now.
This was a requirement that Ricoh was more than happy to meet.
Quite frankly though, I don't recall seeing any boards that weren't made in Japan. Mechanical components yes, boards no.
Makes sense as almost all modern copiers are scan/print instead of the origonal Xerox variation of a overhead projector (i.e. purely optical).
Not sure if I'd be worried about a hidden nuke as sooner or later it would set off a radiation detector. OTOH a small nuke set off in an under city tunnel would be very bad thing...
Let me tell you, there's so many wild network-capable ancillary features being put in the machines now that I just can't get my head around no matter how hard I try. I was more than happy to retire from the business before I made a fool out myself.
That's one good thing about being a student of history. I've read plenty of stories of men in various fields of endevour; business, the military, government, the arts, sciences, who hung around just a little too long instead of exiting gracefully and either caused disasters or made fools of themselves. I figured I should profit from their example.
Brookfield Engineerng is successfully building USA-made streetcars and interruban cas. (OK, Light Rail cas, not always in interurban service.) Maybe they will enter the passenger car business. For a small non-standard order, they would be competitive now.
Yes. Brookfield is a pretty impressive outfit. Very capable.
Flintlock/Wayne-- Each time I use the copier I'm thinking " who else is getting this". I can only imagine the secret codes and reports the darn thing generates. The darn thing is HAL 9000 and it's watching my every move. Sings God Save the Queen and makes cappuccino too! ( not really, but I bet it could if you talked nice to it)
Vince, that used to be one of our standard responses to customers when we were heavily involved trying to bring a cranky copier back to life...
"Is it making copies yet?"
"No, but it's making a pretty good cup of coffee right now! Would you like some?"
"Close the pod bay doors Hal and turn off the lights!"
The thought hit me that if commuter train talk is anything like the office talk I've heard over the years then if the Chinese do hide microphones in those cars then all they're likely to get is an earful of who everyone's favorite sports teams are and why they're great (or why they suck), what the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" are up to this week, or what movies people are seeing, or what the DC club scene is like, or grumbling from people in the morning on the way to work, or grumbling from people in the evening because had a bad day at work, or what the kids are up to in school, well, you get the picture.
They're going to need plenty of patience to listen to hours of small talk before they get anything usable! Then again, the Chinese are supposed to be a very patient people.
Well, to see where this line of thinking can lead, read "Ringworld" by Larry Niven. What happens with an advanced civilization is build on superconductors supplyed by another civilization and then activates a "bug" in said conductors that crashes the advanced cilization's world. Yes, its a bit of a read, but a solid lesson learned when you put your infrastructure in the hands of a not so friendly nation.
Not being much of a sc-fi reader I've never read "Ringworld," but I have studied American history, and let me tell you there was a very good reason why Founders like Alexander Hamilton and George Washington rejected Thomass Jefferson's vision of an America populated by yeoman farmers relying on importation for manufactured goods. Having had to fight a war depending on availability of the same both Hamilton and Washington knew from first-hand experience relying on imports was a dagger that would always be pointed at the nations throat. They wanted to get industry started here, the sooner the better.
Do we have to learn the lesson all over again? Makes me nervous, I admit it.
One of the pdf's in my digital collection is a scan of an 1880's Smithsonian paper on the history of rails for railroads in the US. The author mentioned that one of the complaints mentioned in the Declaration of Independence was the prohibition of any sort of heavy iron working machinery in the colonies. This was at a time when the colonies were producing as much iron as Great Britain, mainly due to the much greater access for wood used in smelting.
Flintlock76 They're going to need plenty of patience to listen to hours of small talk before they get anything usable! Then again, the Chinese are supposed to be a very patient people.
Why do it yourself when you can write a program to do it for you. Considering what the consumer grade stuff (Siri and Alexa) does on a daily basis just imagine what the military/spy grade programs can do, with the computing power of that massive NSA data centre! And that's just the stuff we know about!
As for the data collection, instead of forcibly installing telescreens in all residences wouldn't it have been smarter for Big Brother to slyly market them to the populace in the guise of advanced interpersonal communication devices, slowly introducing more and more advanced gadgets over time until they became ubiquitous and nearly impossible to live without, eventually progressing to the point were a TV that watches you is considered normal?
I guess since I use the devices I am part of the problem too, but I do it under protest. I also felt quite vindicated when that picture of Mark Zuckerberg's laptop came out, I'd had duct tape over my laptop's camera for years before he made it cool.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
Tape over the lens of the camera in your laptop PC screen is a good idea, but have you disabled the built-in microphone yet?
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Semper Vaporo Tape over the lens of the camera in your laptop PC screen is a good idea, but have you disabled the built-in microphone yet?
I disabled the one I know about, but they could have hidden another one somewhere in there.
I feel sorry for the Chineese spy that gets to monitor what I watch.
Guy probably has a drinking problem now.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
China has no monopoly on naughty behavior.
"No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." William Blum, 2006 (former State Department employee; author of Rogue State).
SD70Dude Semper Vaporo Tape over the lens of the camera in your laptop PC screen is a good idea, but have you disabled the built-in microphone yet? I disabled the one I know about, but they could have hidden another one somewhere in there.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Murphy SidingI was told that the aluminum foil in my hat messed with the reception of those hidden cameras and microphones.
Maybe they could spy on the comings and goings of the DC Metro's vesion of (CMStPnP's) Joe Lunchpail?
Murphy Siding SD70Dude Semper Vaporo Tape over the lens of the camera in your laptop PC screen is a good idea, but have you disabled the built-in microphone yet? I was told that the aluminum foil in my hat messed with the reception of those hidden cameras and microphones.
I was told that the aluminum foil in my hat messed with the reception of those hidden cameras and microphones.
All that does is block you from receiving the signals from them; thus it keeps you from knowing the devices are there! Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
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