ME Bill To Prohibit Chinese Technology Comes As Research Reveals State Spending Millions on Dangerous Tech

On March 21, the Maine State Legislature will hold a hearing on a bill to ban the purchase of risky Chinese technology from manufacturers in the Pine Tree state. Introduced by Senator Lisa Keim, An Act to Prohibit State Contracts with Companies Owned or Operated by the Government of the People’s Republic of China (LD877) comes as new research reveals that Maine has spent more than $5 million on risky Chinese technology from Lenovo, which has already been restricted by the federal government. These $5 million in Lenovo purchases were made by the Bureau of Information Services, but the technology has likely been distributed throughout state agencies (unlike other states, Maine does not disclose where purchased technology is being used).… Read More

The TikTok Threat that Reveals a Deeper Threat from China

The clock keeps ticking for the popular video sharing app, TikTok. On Friday, the Trump administration extended a deadline, initial set for November 12, to give the Beijing-based owner, ByteDance Ltd., an additional fifteen days to find an American buyer—or face restrictions that would ban the app’s use in the United States.  CFUIS reviews that began last year raised alarms that ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party could jeopardize personal information of some 175 million TikTok users in the United States. In a report in this summer, China Tech Threat once again highlighted these ongoing concerns. More recently, in a 60 Minutes interview last weekend, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley said “under Chinese law, ByteDance is required to share data… Read More