It's Official: The Chinese Government Attacked Google

It's now official. Verisign's iDefense security lab says:

"The source IPs and drop server of the attack correspond to a single foreign entity consisting either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof."

Ars Technica adds: "If the report's findings are correct, it suggests that the government of China has been engaged for months in a massive campaign of industrial espionage against US companies."

What's amazing is how little play this has gotten in the media, and even moreso, on conservative blogs. American companies are being attacked by China, but Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's press-ops are more important. If China nuked Los Angeles, I think Beck would say "Think about it. Would this have happened if Obama weren't born in Kenya?"

If it's good for the Chinese government, it's bad for everyone else.

Google Announcement RE China: Wow

This is huge.

"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

If there is bigger news the rest of 2010, I'll be surprised. Google, you had me at "free speech".

Combined with the recently completed sale of weapons to Taiwan, this is not turning out to be a good year for the Chinese government. The worst part of it for everyone (including Chinese citizens) is that it doesn't have to be that way. Imagine a world in which Tibetans and Uighurs and Taiwanese wanted to be part of China! That's a world in which China is an open and democratic nation with elections and freedom of speech.

Xinhua Goes International

The rest of the world will now get to hear a continuous stream of why it's an honor to serve coastal Han who are members of the Chinese Communist Party.

This comment today from status- and signaling-theory-interested economist Robin Hanson is of interest here: "If in the future a low-free-speech nation becomes higher status, nations will instead copy that policy, and make up reasons as needed for that."

The Source of All China's Social Problems: Video Games

Of course, China's murder, drug use, and teen pregnancy rates can't have anything to do with the grinding poverty and lack of education and job opportunities that still exists in China outside the coastal cities. The media are always an easy target for big governments everywhere in the world that want to deflect attention from more important causes. ("It wasn't my kid's fault he got caught with weed! My boy wouldn't do that. Heavy metal must have made him do it!")

And of course you don't have to read far to notice that the state-owned media (which is spreading this story) is apparently just fine, and find out that the focus is on the nefarious influence of foreign video games:

Chinese regulators this year have shut down dozens of online games designed overseas and ordered developers to stop including "lowbrow" content like monster-hunting in games. A struggle between government agencies for the right to regulate online games has further roiled the industry and helped send the hit game World of Warcraft offline for three months earlier this year.

Yet another excuse to censor information from outside China and block foreign competition.

Why Do We Tolerate China's Censorship Outside of China?

The behavior of Chinese government security forces on the streets of the U.S. and other free countries should have been enough, but now they're doing it at sober indoor functions. OpenNet Iniative Asia is a forum to promote freedom of expression, particularly online, and recently took place in Sharm, Egypt. There was a poster about China's Great Firewall, and in response to pressure from Chinese authorties, the organizers caved and did the predictable thing - and it's all on video. This just happened last month.

I typically accept that the Chinese government is rational enough not to want to take over the world, but actions like this make this more difficult to believe.

China Withdraws Censorship Software From Personal Computers

This is good news, and a great step in the right direction. But they're mandating that access providers internet cafes and popular websites - i.e., information access points - continue to use the software. China's becoming an information-based society is good for everybody. So how about doing away with censorship entirely?