- Title: CHINA: Government says Google's hacking accusations may have an ulterior motive
- Date: 10th June 2011
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 7, 2011) (REUTERS) VEHICLES DRIVING IN FRONT OF BEIJING GOOGLE HEADQUARTERS GOOGLE LOGO ON SIGN IN FRONT OF BUILDING CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG ON POLE IN FRONT OF BUILDING FLAG FLYING IN FRONT OF GOOGLE LOGO BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 9, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON HONG LEI WALKING INTO NEWS BRIEFING JOURNALISTS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HONG LEI SAYING "They are absolutely able to report the case to China's public security organisation, and could also resolve it through the China and the United States' relevant law enforcement cooperation mechanisms. But instead they use these methods to publicise this so-called situation. From this, can we see that there is an ulterior motive?" BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 7, 2011) (REUTERS) FORMER HACKER AND FOUNDER OF N.G.O. NETEASY.CN WAN TAO USING LAPTOP COMPUTER WAN LOOKING AT LAPTOP WAN'S HANDS ON COMPUTER WAN'S EYES
- Embargoed: 25th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China, China
- Country: China
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Communications,Politics,Technology
- Reuters ID: LVADB6K5AHFXH5BF3YA99YH6PFP2
- Story Text: China's latest spat with Google continued on Thursday (June 9), as authorities accused the internet giant of having an ulterior motive in claiming that attacks on its Gmail accounts appeared to originate in the country.
Last week, Google said it had broken up an effort to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account holders, including U.S. government officials, Chinese human rights advocates and journalists.
On Monday (June 6) an official Beijing newspaper said Google has become a "political tool" vilifying the Chinese government, and warned that the company's statements could hurt its business in China.
"They are absolutely able to report the case to China's public security organisation, and could also resolve it through the China and the United States' relevant law enforcement cooperation mechanisms. But instead they use these methods to publicise this so-called situation. From this, can we see that there is an ulterior motive?" Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
Others also doubted the reliability of Google's claims.
Wan Tao has been called the "Godfather of Chinese hackers" by domestic media after he led a series of hacking attacks on government websites in the U.S., Japan and China's rival island Taiwan in the late 1990s during periods of diplomatic friction or on dates of patriotic significance.
Wan, now an internet securities advisor for IBM and founder of an NGO, says he never stole information, but instead as an "angry young man", he used hacking to express his dissatisfaction with those he perceived to be threatening his country.
Wan said he could not understand why Google failed to make public more concrete evidence to support its claims.
"Especially a company like Google, they could easily produce more technical information instead of just giving some things to the media to make everyone speculate, but then at the same time maybe giving the very the detailed information to the FBI. In the age of the internet, there is no need to do it this way," he said.
Once considered one of China's patriotic "Red hackers", Wan said he does not hack any more.
Instead, his fledgling NGO, Neteasy.cn, trains young hackers to put their computer skills to more constructive use building security systems for other Chinese non-profit organisations.
Google said that the attacks appeared to come from Jinan, the capital of China's eastern Shandong province and home to an intelligence unit of the People's Liberation Army.
But Wan said hackers from elsewhere could in theory use this host to conceal their real origin. He said hackers from other countries could control a host in China and use it to carry out attacks.
Other cyber-security experts said, however, that they did not doubt Google's investigations, believing the company's researchers were sophisticated enough to track down the true source of the attacks.
Wan says he himself still uses a Gmail account, citing it as still the safest of the free email account providers.
Many on the streets of Beijing had not heard of the latest Google disputes, but some like 43-year-old I.T. worker Xu Bo (pron: Shoo Boor) were surprised by reports that so many Gmail accounts had been hacked into.
"Of course I very fortunately have never been the victim of hacking attacks, but if there have been such attacks, I will be very surprised. Google is one of the world's big on-line companies, so its security systems should be safer than other companies," Xu said.
Google in March accused the Chinese government of making it difficult for Gmail users to access the service, and many Gmail users have complained that they cannot enter their accounts, which are often painfully slow.
Twenty-four-year-old student Gao Xiaohan (pron: gaw seeaw-han) said many like her were abandoning Gmail to avoid the inconvenience.
"Often when you have something urgent to do and Gmail has a problem, it's a huge hassle. Sometimes when we want to send files to other students, it's very annoying to have these problems. So in the end you have to use some domestic, more convenient providers," Gao said.
The latest friction with Google could bring Internet policy back to the foreground of U.S.-China relations, reprising tensions last year when the Obama administration took up Google's complaints about hacking and censorship from China.
Google partly pulled out of China after that dispute. Since then, it has lost more share to rival Baidu in China's Internet market, the world's largest by user numbers with more than 450 million users. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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