, Columnist
Your Old Smartphone Is a Security Risk. Live With It
Banning exports of used electronics, as the Trump administration proposes to do, will be counterproductive.
Toss this proposal on the scrapheap.
Photographer: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images
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That obsolete smartphone stashed away in a drawer or closet may not look like a national security risk, but the Trump administration is contemplating treating it as one.
Unscrupulous Chinese recyclers and manufacturers could transform old phones into “counterfeit goods that may enter the United States’ military and civilian electronics supply chain,” according to a draft rule. To prevent that from happening, the Department of Commerce proposes to severely restrict the export of used electronics.