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Comment by hersko | Hacker News Reader

So a Unity owned bloatware company being used by Samsung is now somehow controversial because it was founded in Israel? Am i reading this right?

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From Stuxnet to Pegasus to the 2024 pager attack, Israel has a history of leveraging its tech sector to advance its national security aims through clandestine means (this is not unusual: so does the US, and so does China). If you're a country with not-so-friendly relations with Israel, the company being founded in Israel is absolutely pertinent.

Which _Israeli_ companies were used for Stuxnet or the 2024 pager attack? NSO is not the same as the company from the article since it's explicitly a cyber company.

The more relevant question is, which Israeli companies are currently not involved in covert military operations?

The difficulty in comprehending an answer to this question is precisely why allowing ones military to perform such actions using covert means is so dangerous for a civilian population to support.

War is supposed to be fought in the open in order to protect the civilians.

I suppose when the distinction between soldier and civilian is not so easy to make, the profligate mindset which allows covert, indiscriminate mass murder at scale becomes a norm.

> Which _Israeli_ companies were used for Stuxnet or the 2024 pager attack?

I'll tell you as soon as you tell me exactly why ZTE devices were banned in the United States. The thing about clandestine operations is that they aren't done in the open.

RTFA

> The presence of an Israeli-origin technology component on Samsung phones in WANA countries poses additional problems. Several nations in this region legally bar Israeli companies from operating, and in light of the ongoing Israel–Palestine conflict, the preload of an app tied to such a company becomes even more contentious.

So yes, the presence of Israeli software is a problem in many countries, and may even be illegal.

I’ll wager there is a bit more Israeli tech in those phones than some adware.

Or a heck of a lot of non-phone tech as well.

Apple's A/M-series chips are designed in Israel. My guess is no one is banning iPhones.

To HN readers, the controversy is likely this:

> the program was found to be quietly invasive as it allows the installer to install programs on the user’s device without permission. It circumvents the user validation process and successfully bypasses multiple security checks, including antivirus programs

I agree that the headline “controversy” is manufactured.

Yep.

The First thing that popped into my head, was

- is this a problem because of bloatware in general? Or…

- because its Israeli bloatware?

If the latter, I would understand your discomfort because of past security intrusions by Israeli companies.

But not if it’s just „IsRa-HeLl bAd“

That's not the controversy based on the article - it's arguing that because the app is Israeli in origin, it may run afoul of local BDS laws thus another reason for AppCloud to be removed from local device, which is notable because the AppCloud app only appears to be installed on African, Asian, and MENA Samsung phones, where the bulk of countries with BDS laws exist.

The article doesn't appear to take a side one way or the other in the conflict, it's just listing a potential compliance issue.

There is no such thing as BDS laws, only anti-BDS laws. Some muslim countries boycott Israeli-made products, But since Israel is a tech powerhouse only behind the US, almost every tech is Israeli-made at least partially, so again, trying to enforce any boycott is stupid.

BDS is a western concept, legal laws banning business with Israel in the Middle East precede it.

Uhhhh, not sure about you, but I wouldn't want anything Israeli within 10m of my phone.

you probably need to throw away your phone. or something. because never mind of it apple/qualcomm/android/etc - one of R&D centers that all companies have in Israel developed part of it.

The controversy is Israeli remote control over all these phones. Not Israeli R&D contributing to a component.

Edit: I know what they wrote

parent said "anything israeli". phones are partially israeli. including baseband firmware and stuff.

Do you have a source?

For what? That all major companies have r&d center (or few) in Israel?

Nvidia for example tripples size of one of the offices now (out of seven i think) and builds new campus in different city

ROFL.

Best step up to your words and throw away your phone then.

All major tech companies and chip manufacturers have R&D and design centers in Israel.

Is it easy to bake vulns into chips during the design stage only?

Genuine question.

What an insane argument. iPhones are assembled in China, does that mean the iPhone belongs to China? Some companies are bound to have offices in Isn'treal, do pray tell their contributions that are publicly verifiable.

Best throw it away then

If you want to _really_ bar anything of Israeli origin, you should:

- Not use Intel processors, as many are developed in Haifa

- Not use a firewall. It was invented in the IDF.

- Not use Waze. It's Israeli.

- Not use thumb drives. Invented in Israel.

- Not eat cherry tomatoes. Israeli development.

The list goes on and on, but I must add - if you ever suffer a serious head or stomach injury, tell the medics to not use the Israeli bandage.

What does any of that have to do with GP not wanting israeli spyware on his smartphone? Maybe your mention of Waze is tangentially related but that's about it?

Exactly, I unistalled Waze once I knew it was Israeli, as well as avoided about a dozen of VPN providers acquired by ex-Mossad led Kape Technologies

Let me guess, you think shawarma and hummus are also Israeli inventions. It's insane you are trying to pass off firewall as an IDF invention on hackernews. How wildly inaccurate and tone deaf.

Considering the political context around Israel it is clear that cherry tomatoes being an Israeli development (apparently) is completely irrelevant here.

Seems reasonable. Same way "Russian" companies are shady. Doesn't matter if they do something inane . This is really basic geopolitics that only had a short respite... Like less than 30 year period as cold war slowed. This is very normal.

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