Another hacked post recovered – it is a bit dated and was posted a couple of weeks ago. Thanks Christina.
Google was apparently subject to a cyber attack by people living in China - the inference was that these people were agents of the Chinese Government.
The attack was directed at Chinese human rights activists and at eliciting information about their private email accounts. Google has responded dramatically by abolishing agreed on screening measures in China that filtered out material the Chinese authorities do not wish to have circulated. Since Chinese Government support is required for Google to continue operating in China it may be that Google and its search engine may no longer continue operating in China – a threat that Google has made explicit. This threat if acted on would be very costly to Google which would lose a huge market to other browsers but is embarrassing to the Chinese Government and costly to China given the extensive use of Google in China. Can modern technology defeat the strongest political machine on the planet?
Another recovered post. China Daily reports the incident briefly in a 4-line report that states Google will discuss with the Chinese Government whether it can operate “within Chinese law’. In a curious twist the largest internet search engine in China, Baidu, which should move well beyond its current market share of around 64% of the Chinese market, was today itself hacked by a group linked to Iran!
I’ll follow up on this – much more to come of all this for sure. China so far is standing firm portraying the issue as one of law. The western media I have followed equivocates between suggesting Google is acting morally and courageously with suggesting that business life in China is becoming increasingly tough so that Google probably isn’t foregoing much in the way of profits by exiting.
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