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2010-01-26 11:22:07 | |
| Following U.S. Secretary of Defense Hillary Clinton's speech on freedom of access to information and the attacks against Google, the Chinese government responded in an offuscated manner. | |
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After the events of December 2009 involving Google and Chinese hackers, Hillary Clinton gave a speech last Thursday where she urged the "Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of the cyber intrusions." Invoking the right for universal access to information, she asked Google and other companies to refuse supporting "politically motivated censorship". Google did say that it would stop its activities in the country if China did not put an end to its censorship rules.
Yesterday, the state-run Xinhua News Agency cited a representative of the Chinese government saying that "any accusation that the Chinese government participated in cyberattacks, either in an explicit or indirect way, is groundless and aims to discredit China." Maybe the government had nothing to do with the attacks and the hackers simply made it look like it came from there. But given the fact that the attacks aimed at stealing precise intellectual property and that they were highly coordinated, it seems reasonable to believe that they were at least supported by Chinese officials. Additionally, Beijing has said that Mrs. Clinton was trying with her declaration to interfere into the country's internal affairs, saying that the U.S. wanted to control the Internet for their own profit and purposes. Strangely, the censorship operated by the Chinese government over the Internet is a much greater mean of control. Instead, they said in the Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper that "'Internet freedom' [...] is nothing but a diplomatic strategy, and only an illusion of freedom." On this side of the ocean, critcism has been harsh too, against China. TechWeb's editor-in-chief David Berlind does not even hesitate to say that the attacks were a declaration of war from China to the U.S., comparing the cyber attacks against 33 companies to having launched 33 missiles on these companies' buildings. He pretends that the response from the U.S. government was too soft. We should soon see whether or not China will adapt its censorship laws and if Google will step out of Chinese territory. Then we will have a better idea of the state of things concerning cyber warfare. But one this is for sure, companies and governments now realize that this is no longer a matter of science-fiction. | |
Reference 1: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=8762
Reference 3: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/25/china-denies-involvement-in-google-hackings/
Reference 4: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8478005.stm
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