The INQUIRER - we make the agenda that breaks the agenda
|
|
|
White House steps in to Google's row with China
THE WHITE HOUSE has entered the spat that Google is having with China.
The US President's office said that it backs the "right to a free Internet" and confirmed it has held talks with Google, which has threatened to pull up stakes in China over censorship.
But we should not be surprised as it is starting to look like the whole thing is as much an embarrassment to the US government as it is to Google. Suggestions are that the same software Google uses to snoop on customers for US law enforcement might have provided Chinese hackers with their attack vector.
Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute said that there is a problem with these automated law enforcement tracking systems in place at most major ISPs and web companies.
He said that the trend toward building surveillance capability into telecommunications architecture amounts to a breach-by-design and is a serious security risk.
As the volume of requests from law enforcement at all levels grows, that is making it difficult for telcos to permit access to user information with minimal human intervention.
With the automated process in place all the Chinese would have had to do was hack into it and all the information they wanted would have been available to them.
If this is true, it is running counter to the official story that claims Chinese dissidents were tricked with a bogus Trojan. It highlights the weaknesses in Google's cloud computing plans and how the US government's obsession to snoop on its citizens actually puts them at risk.
Fortunately for both Google and the US government, they can sidetrack the problem with a bit of spin that paints them as 'fighting for freedom' against the Chinese government's attempts to clamp down on free speech.
China has been successfully squeezing Internet companies for years and neither Google nor the US government had complained much.
Yet when the future of cloud based computing is threatened then Google apparently feels it is a good idea to threaten to pull out of China.
The US government too has an interest in Google's cloud based initiative succeeding. Instead of having to get court orders to snoop at many ISPs it will only have to deal with one company, with which it could develop a very cosy relationship over time.
However if Google's snooping software did provide the Chinese attack vector, then it could make people less happy with both the government and cloud based computing.
So the White House now enters the spin war on Google's side.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that the President and his administration believe in the freedom of the Internet. The right to a free Internet was what the President talked about in China last November, he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised Google on Wednesday for threatening to quit China and urged other high-tech companies to resist Beijing.
Google is onto a PR winner here. With even Reporters Without Borders hailing Google's move, no one is taking any time to wonder how Chinese hackers were able to get into its cloud. µ
Share this:
Share
yo, Vinster
this is just the tip of the ice'd white ghetto person.if america cut transportation of goods to china.they would loose our droves of natural resources and wepons and we loose.... trinkets ? they would die out first ^ ^.we Americans dont pay our loans for good reason.
You might want to check this:
http://www.kareldonk.com/karel/2010/01/15/on-google-vs-china-why-google-is-now-suddenly-against-censorship-in-china/
"no one is taking any time to wonder how Chinese hackers were able to get into its cloud"
Reportedly the main method used was a previously undocumented flaw in Internet Explorer.
I don't believe that's a Google product.
My government (US) won't do anything about China, at least not since Bill Clinton and Bush jr sold us into dept with them. Gads I wish we had a government that had balls and wasn't corrupt. Ahh that's what movies are for I guess
"It highlights the weaknesses in Google's cloud computing plans and how the US government's obsession to snoop on its citizens actually puts them at risk.
Fortunately for both Google and the US government, they can sidetrack the problem with a bit of spin that paints them as 'fighting for freedom' against the Chinese government's attempts to clamp down on free speech." ..... Hmmmm.
The following post to a sister mag, may suggest that Google and Uncle Sam have realised that it is not Information about China for the West to BroadBandCast to China to know, but Intelligence from the West being BroadBandCast into China for the Chinese to Know, which may be causing Google to withdraw its search engine facility/Intellectual Property Energy Store...... which would be a real dumb move, because of what it would secretly reveal to everyone.
[quote]IPRules
Posted Wednesday 13th January 2010 10:02 GMT
Google [and all search engines are similarly blessed and afflicted] need to be very wary indeed and aware of the damage that they will be able to do, for they are easily groomed and outed as being affiliated to whatever particular phishing for information and intelligence entity they may be a covert proxy for, [and there may be more than one, and Google themselves may not know that they are being used and/or abused as a proxy by others] should one share with them sensitive information in a file or a document or a blog or whatever, for their Storage and Easy Immediate Anywhere Access Plan, which would then subsequently become Unavailable Immediately Anywhere, for then is the Information Identified by such an Action as being Extremely Valuable by Virtue of the Intelligence it would be Sharing…… with it being Uncomfortable and Disruptive and Subversive in one Camp with a Tentative Information Advantage and Penetrative and Explosive and Helpful in A.N.Other which would be Suffering Presently the Intelligence Disadvantage.
http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2010/01/12/google_docs_does_uploads_for_any_file_type/ [/quote]
Quote: The US President's office said that it backs the "right to a free Internet".
Oh, man! Glad to see old Obama has a sense of humour.
I would expect the security on U.S. government e-mail-tapping software to be just as good or better than the security on Google e-mails themselves. And I know which one I wouldn't be sent to Camp X-Ray for hacking.
Anyway, doesn't the U.S. system only read e-mails of people likely to cause trouble for the U.S. government? Which, yes, could include Chinese human rights activists. They annoy everybody.
JQ - spot on .. I mean to have some Chinese illegally spy on US citizens that US would spy on legally is just outrage .. outrage I tells ya.
Maybe they can bomb them or something, that would learn them.
Ever since cloud computing was touted round as the next big thing .. I could only see hackers of all breeds gleefully rubbing their collective grubby mitts. - Heck hacking just one system has gotta be easier than hacking 50 or more.
Good times to be a hacker in the future.
So let me get this straight...the US Government's unconstitutional citizen monitoring and control software was hijacked by the sinister Chinese government for the purpose of spying on Chinese citizens? That's just not right! Some authentic US citizens could have been deprived of being rightfully monitored by this nefarious attack. Them Chinese got some nerve!