Hacking from China – Maybe

April 16, 2010

China-based hackers are at it again.  Since Google fled to Hong Kong to escape being attacked in mainland China, the virtual ghosts slipped into the Dalai Lama’s office and sucked up 1,500 e-mails. I wonder what they discovered.

Researchers at the University of Toronto traced the hackers to the city of Chengdu but didn’t blame China or demand answers as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did when Google was hacked.  The Canadians said there is no evidence of involvement by the Chinese government.

Instead, the evidence points to a cyber-spy network that has hacked into government and private organization in 103 countries.

It is estimated that close to four hundred million Chinese are connected to the Internet.  In 2008, China required Internet cafes in Beijing to take the photographs of anyone using the Internet as a mean to control public use of cyberspace. Could that also mean discovering who is doing the hacking?

Cybercafe Police in China

Since the Chinese government does not like to be embarrassed, I’m sure they want to stop the amateurs who keep being traced back to China. Then again, some group in another country, like Germany, could be routing the signal through China.

See Google Recycled http://wp.me/pN4pY-2r

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2 Comments | China, government, media | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Walking Barefoot on a Double Edged Blade

March 27, 2010

From what I’ve learned, when Mao died, many Chinese were tired of the Communists because of  the Cultural Revolution. If Deng Xiaoping hadn’t introduced a market economy resulting in decades of growth and prosperity, China may have fallen into chaos to emerge with a dictator similar to what they had with the Kuomintang.

Nichols Kristof

Nicholas Kristof wrote, China & Google (New York Times, March 24, 2010), an opinion piece that gets closer to the truth about China. Kristof seems to know what he is talking about when he said, “They (ordinary Chinese) don’t gripe  a lot about the regime imprisoning dissidents, who mostly have a negligible following around the country.”

It’s probably true that many in China want to have free access to the Internet, but I doubt it is serious enough to cause concern. The biggest concern is raising the standard of living for the 800 million rural Chinese who have not cashed in on the prosperity.

When there are accusations from Washington that China isn’t playing fair with currency control, China has a choice. Give in and wait for hundreds of millions of unhappy Chinese to rebel or stand firm and continue to grow the economy.

As far as Google is concerned, China has Baidu (with more than 60% of the market) and shedding Google probably feels like passing gas in public.

Leave a Comment » | America, business, China, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Google Going Hong Kong

March 25, 2010

In Google’s China Play? Search me by Muhammad Cohen, author of Hong Kong On Air, Cohen writes a compelling post about his anger concerning Google’s flight and fight with mainland China’s  government. He says Google has no reasonable objective baiting Beijing and inviting Chinese authorities to crack down on Hong Kong’s freedoms. He says, Google’s longstanding corporate hypocrisy raises questions about its claims of mainland cyber attacks and hacking. I talked about this in Google Recycled (http://wp.me/pN4pY-2r).

Any freedom is a precious gift.  Americans believe they have freedom but what they have isn’t far from what the Chinese have. After all, Americans must pay income tax, sales tax, property tax, wear seat belts while driving or helmets on motor bikes, no smoking in public, no drinking booze or talking on cell phones while driving, and the list goes on. Now Americans have to pay for health insurance, which has given birth to protests across the United States—it’s a shame so many eligible Americans don’t vote.

Many of those freedom restrictions don’t exist in China. What does exist is the fact that Chinese are not allowed to challenge their government in public or in the media—a privilege that has never existed in China ever. However, Hong Kong has this freedom and doesn’t want to lose it.  When Google wanted to do business in China, they agreed to the censorship rules. Now they have broken that agreement.

See “When in Rome, Do as the Romans” http://wp.me/sN4pY-354

 

Leave a Comment » | America, business, China, expatriates, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Cracking a Tough Nut

March 19, 2010

Four hundred million is a tempting target. That’s how many people are on-line in China—a hundred million more than America’s population.

It looks like Google is pulling out of the Chinese market and its rival, Baidu (with 63% of the market), will win this round. But the fight isn’t over.  Microsoft may be the next contender to go toe to toe with Baidu. It has been reported that Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, which has less than 1 percent of the Chinese market, is moving quickly to use Google’s departure to its advantage.

Google’s reason for pulling out of China was a recent cyber attack. Well, why isn’t Baidu complaining? After all, a hacker group called the “Iranian Cyber Army” took over Baidu for four hours in January 2010. Baidu should claim Google was behind that attack.

See Google Recycled http://wp.me/pN4pY-2r

 

Leave a Comment » | America, business, China | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Qianlong Emperor and Google

March 16, 2010

On Friday, March 12, the BBC reported that the Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong adopted a tough stance during a legislation session. “I hope that Google will abide and respect the Chinese government’s laws and regulations,” he said.  “But, if you betray Chinese laws and regulations … it means that you are unfriendly, irresponsible, and you will have to pay the consequences.”

Qianlong Emperor

Google doesn’t get it.  If they read what the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1796) wrote in his famous letter to King George the III in 1793—when China was strong enough to resist external influence—they might understand.

China is a family oriented culture, and the individual is not as important. Public freedom of expression does not fit the Confucian, Taoist foundation that begins in the family where you do not publicly criticize your elders or your leaders and expect to get away with it.

Starting with the first Opium War in 1840 until Mao won China in 1949, China was weak and was bullied by Imperial powers. Now that China is strong, they are saying “NO” as the Qianlong Emperor did.

Discover The Influence of Confucius

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

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2 Comments | business, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Confucianism, family values, politics, Taoism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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