Comment by andrewzah
4 years ago
Linux kernel vulnerabilities affect the entire world. The world does not revolve around the U.S., and I find it extremely unlikely a university professor in the U.S. doing research for a paper did this on behalf of the Chinese government.
It's far more likely that professor is so out of touch that they honestly think their behavior is acceptable.
The bio of the assistant professor, Kangjie Lu, is here: https://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~kjlu/
It probably IS from being out of touch, or perhaps desperation to become tenured. However, he is also an alumnus of Chongqing University: http://www.cse.cqu.edu.cn/info/2095/5360.htm
Please don't do this here.
How about that question gets asked when there's actually some semblance of evidence that supports that theory. When you just throw, what I call, "dual loyalty" out as an immediate possibility just because the person is from China it starts to sound real nasty from the observers point of view.
Although there's nothing to suggest that this professor is in any way supported by the Chinese state, I don't think it's completely unreasonable to wonder.
The UK government has already said that China is targeting the UK via academics and students. China is a very aggressive threat with a ton of resources. It's certainly a real scenario to consider.
Just as this "research" has burnt the trust between the kernel maintainers and the UMN, if China intentionally installs spies into western academia, at some point you have to call into question the background of any Chinese student. It's not fair, but currently China is relying on the fact that we care about fairness and due process.
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It's a very real threat and possibility thus an absolutely appropriate question to be asking. There are numerous documented instances of espionage performed by Chinese nationals while operating within the US educational system.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/american-universities-are...
So asking 'why?' in this situation is in some way unethical because the person in question is from China? Or is it that we have to limit the answers to our question because the person is from China? Please advise, and further clarify what thoughts are not permitted based on the nationality of the person in question.