Comment by bdhdhduuyd

8 hours ago

So they bought the cameras and some people pointed out they look exactly the same as Russian cameras. The government denied this but after they figured out the serial numbers matched the Russian cameras they started this investigation.

Good they investigated this before using them, but this sounds like a big fu...

This would be far more impressive if not for:

> multiple reports in Slovak media that linked the purchase to a Cyprus shell company with fake certifications.

We're talking about this as if it's some precursor to a James Bond plot, but it really fizzles after learning Nina in the sourcing department skipped the compliance paperwork. James Bond doesn't need to leave the bed!

Trojan exploits aside, I just assume that it'd be easier for someone in SVR/GRU to bribe an admin.

  • Current government is extremely pro-russian to the point of treason, and people involved in this case double so.

    This wasn't some oversight of the proverbial Nina in any way. They just did sloppy job from both sides covering tracks, not uncommon with current government. They are loud (and racist, xenophobic, and often dumb), not competent smart people.

  • > Nina in the sourcing department skipped the compliance paperwork.

    Well the interior ministry didn't really demand one (yes really) but the opposition people have read the documentation for the cameras and the hash of the supplied software was exactly the same as the hash for the russian simicon camera.

  • > We're talking about this as if it's some precursor to a James Bond plot, but it really fizzles after learning Nina in the sourcing department skipped the compliance paperwork.

    That's exactly the sort of thing that James Bond would do.

With high probablity they are actually made in China. I don't think Russia makes their own chips for cameras.

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  • Sounds plausable.

    There is a video somewhere of a Finnish university professor from around the time the war started (maybe a bit before), explaining the Russian attitude to sportsmanship, or whatever you want to call it.

    Basically he suggested cheating is not considered unethical in Russia. If you are not using all means available to reach your goal you are leaving something on the table and are weak. This applies to all levels of society.

    I would be cautious of such generalisations normally. But the industrial scale cheating at the winter Olympics says a lot.

  • They also like to bomb people, so probably best to not let them locate individuals (or anything else) easily by using Russian traffic cams ...

  • >"it’s just cultural" - so is being fucking racist

    • generalizations about a group of people are not “racist” when not talking about race, they’re also not inherently pejoratives either. reduction is to know what to expect

      still buy the cameras, still buy the natural gas

      just dont go on the public record saying its not backdoored knowing the supply chain

      but assuming there was some introspection you were hoping to reveal, which culture were you considering to be racist?

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