
Boeing’s Black: This Android phone will self-destruct - kurren
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/02/boeings-black-this-android-phone-will-self-destruct
======
rogerbinns
Boeing bought Narus in 2010
[http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20295&item=1294](http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=20295&item=1294)

That same Narus was who enabled the NSA to illegally spy on telecoms last
decade
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A)

Would you trust a "secure" phone from people like that?

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rjzzleep
the same narus that brought you narus insight which was an awesome piece of
technology, and makes me wonder about the all the outrage we recently had.

one might not like them, but it's one amazing tech company.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narus_(company)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narus_\(company\))

~~~
makmanalp
Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Great. Powering oppressive governments
everywhere.

~~~
mpyne
Just like Linux and Apache Hadoop are.

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higherpurpose
It's from a defense contractor, so it's probably not very good, yet extremely
overpriced.

~~~
w1ntermute
And yet the defense industry will purchase it in droves, thanks to the
revolving door and all the special connections that Boeing has.

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gaius
Anyone buying a phone from a company with links to the US military-industrial
complex wants their heads examining. And that includes the US govt.

~~~
alexeisadeski3
Don't VZW and ATT have links to the US mil-indz complex?

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MichaelGG
All phones should have this, just like modern laptops do (or are supposed to).
All data should be encrypted, keys inside a tamper-proof chip. If anything has
been changed (say, cover removed), then you need to enter the recovery key to
certify the device is OK again. If tampering happens while device is active
(say, it gets dropped hard enough to knock the cover off), then the device
wipes RAM/powers off.

My ThinkPad nominally offers this kind of protection.

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rbanffy
If I can't see what the phone is running, how sure can I be it'll not be used
by a third party to spy on me? Boeing's promise?

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objclxt
> _how sure can I be it 'll not be used by a third party to spy on me?
> Boeing's promise?_

It's not really aimed at _you_ , it's aimed at the US government....

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stusmall
I can think of some vendors who offer source sharing agreements on their
closed products for auditing purposes. I'd speculate Boeing would offer the
same if the contract is valuable enough, especially if its DoD writing the
check.

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rbanffy
Unless you are given the full build chain and deploy to your own devices,
there is little guarantee the software you were given is actually the one
running on your devices.

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callesgg
I was expecting a small explosive charge in the battery or something cool.
This was just lame.

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djyaz1200
Called it (kinda)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7065897](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7065897)

"...this idea seems like a solid game plan for Blackberry? They could rename
their company "Black" ala P-Diddy v just Diddy. :)" Got the name right, wrong
company. Nobody is perfect.

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bjackman
To be violently hyperbolic; besides impressing non-tech managers who've
watched too many Nicholas Cage films, what the fuck is the point of this?

If you have the money to commission a set of devices that self-destruct when
tampered with, surely you can afford to have someone put together an Android
build with encrypted data partitions?

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samplonius
Because at the military level, all encryption is assumed to be compromised.
Plus, it is assumed the phone may contain data of national value, so it
assumed an adversary would spend unlimited resources to crack the encryption.

For example, lets say "unlimited" is $100 million dollars. How many groups
would spend $100 million to lets say, get details about the missile defense
system in Taiwan? Plenty.

As other posters have stated, this is not a phone for anyone but only very
specific gov't employees.

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arunbahl
Additional details here: [http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2014/02/deep-b...](http://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2014/02/deep-black-more-details-on-boeings-new-secure-android-
smartphone/)

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Kroem3r
Why Boeing? Why not Motorola? It would seem to come more naturally to Moto; I
mean if they built jetliners there would have been no reason to invent the
phrase "jet lag".

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pokstad
No one read the damn article. You will not be spied on while using this phone
BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUY THIS PHONE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

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jmnicolas
But the people spying you will be using this phone.

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frik
exploding batteries, Mission Impossible style :D

~~~
Create
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_transfer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_transfer)

man event:

[http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/faqs/ai...](http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/commercial/airports/faqs/airplane_lithium_ion_battery_events.pdf)

