China Denies any Involvement in the Cyberattacks on Google
China Denies any Involvement in the Cyberattacks on Google
Posted 01/24/2010 at 5:14pm
| by Justin Kerr
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When Google announced that it might be pulling out of China as a result of recent cyberattacks, everyone assumed the Chinese Government was involved in the breach. After all, pulling the plug on the largest customer base of Internet users in the world couldn't have been an easy decision to make, and would have been a bit of an overreaction if the evidence was pointing to a private individual or company. With this in mind however, its important to note that Google hasn't officially implicated the Chinese government in the attacks, and that rumor now stands in stark contrast to a statement issued today by Chinese officials.
The "accusation that the Chinese government participated in (any) cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China," an unidentified ministry spokesman told Xinhua, according to an Agence France Presse report. "The U.S. has criticized China's policies to administer the Internet and insinuated that China restricts Internet freedom...This runs contrary to the facts and is harmful to China-U.S. relations," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
The harsh words quoted above out of Beijing are one of the first public reactions to Hillary Clintons recent lecture on Internet freedom. In her speech Clinton criticized Chinas efforts to censor the country's 384 million web users which she claims are trapped behind "The Great Firewall of China". Clearly the Chinese government was not amused. Google hasn't stopped censoring the results on Google.cn just yet, but CEO Eric Schmidt said on Thursday that it would happen soon.
So is China's blanket denial of any wrong doing good enough for you? Keep this link bookmarked for ongoing coverage of the situation as it unfolds.
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sdcat
January 26, 2010 at 12:24pm
we all know China's policy was to censor certain information, regardless good or bad to anyone. I think google should just get out of China, don't do business there, leave the place since China's law/policy contradict yours. Show them that you mean serious business.
Bring Hillary out to the party is a bit too much because might turn into political issue instead of business event.Come to think of it, Europe doesn't run democracy either.
The other thing was, none of the report says "China government" did the hack. It could be anyone, anybody to do that.
lets say, if someone(may be a civilian)in the US trying to hack a big company in China could you assume? US government trying to hack that company?
I think a lot of us have been mislead to think that China=Chinese government, but in-fact it was just something came from that direction.
1337Goose
January 27, 2010 at 10:02am
The attack was large scale and highly organized. So it wasn't just a bunch of punk hackers.
Also, human rights activists who have spoken out against Chinese policy were targeted. Hard to deny that evidence.
~Goose
1337Goose
January 25, 2010 at 1:46pm
Then why were human rights activists targeted? I don't suppose the Chinese people oppose their own rights... do they?
~Goose
Quakindude
January 24, 2010 at 9:32pm
Yeah, right. And Iran doesn't have nuclear reactors making munitions grade material.
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***The views I express are my own and do not represent the views of MaximumPC Magazine or Future US.***
BAMT
January 25, 2010 at 4:23pm
Sure, the "accusation that the Chinese government participated in (any) cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless and aims to denigrate China" is true, but the following are as well:
The accusation that the Chinese government orchestrated (any) cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, aims to proclaim China's wrongdoing.
The accusation that the Chinese government spearheaded (any) cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, aims to proclaim China's wrongdoing.
The accusation that the Chinese government organized (any) cyberattack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, aims to proclaim China's wrongdoing.
thepoor
January 25, 2010 at 7:52am
China never admit any wrong doing even it get caught red handed. Tainted Milk, Lead Toys, and Cadimum anyone? Freaking China.
Tekzel
January 24, 2010 at 8:24pm
"The U.S. has criticized China's policies to administer the Internet and
insinuated that China restricts Internet freedom...This runs contrary
to the facts and is harmful to China-U.S. relations,"Now, maybe I am having reading comprehension issues, but that looks an awful lot like he is denying that they mandate any censoring of internet content.
Given that everyone knows that they do, that would certainly cast doubt on any claims that they had no involvement in the cyberattacks. I mean, if they lie about censorship, no doubt they would lie about the attacks.
logicmaster2003
January 24, 2010 at 6:38pm
oh my dear hillary .. tsk tsk tsk shame on you
China is a very powerful communist country, lets not mess with them. You're putting our american lives in jeopardy ! We already have angered many countries !
Lets poke on smaller passive countries where we won't be bashed.
Neufeldt2002
January 24, 2010 at 6:32pm
Let's face it, No criminal will admit to a crime. This is just another of China's denials. The list continues to grow.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I wanted a signature, but all I got was this ________
NeauxFear
January 25, 2010 at 8:44am
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, SPAM!
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