I honestly don't know that the Chinese government is in the wrong here. If we look, historically, every developing country had to steal intellectual "property" in order to compete against the bigger players. Britain did it when they stole Dutch loom technology (and created massive tariffs in order to keep British wool for British industry), the US did it when they coaxed Samuel Slater to illegally bring British mill designs, and South Korea did it as well. While I understand the US's desire to protect their companies' interests, it seems really disingenuous to label a country an enemy for stealing IP.
The article quotes Stewart as saying:
If they did it fair and square, more power to them. But to cheat at it is wrong.
This seems really problematic to me: it's not like all US companies do it "fair and square," and as a sovereign country, it seems like China has every right to summarily ignore IP, or to establish morals that don't care about protecting foreign IP.
I don't think we would want to use the disreputable behavior of nations in the past as a model for what is acceptable today. That's why treaties and agreements are made so that we learn from our mistakes. Not playing by the rules that you have agreed to and expect others to adhere to is cheating -- I have no problem with people calling China out on it. It's not like China is unfairly singled out and there isn't plenty of criticism of the US and US companies for bad behavior. Regardless of sovereignty, the Chinese don't have a right to ignore other countries' IP if they want those same countries to respect theirs.
How breaking into companies' computer and subverting them into serving botnet herders has anything to do with IP? Most of them don't even have a single thing to do with IP. It's like justifying robbery by saying "well, you have big banks in your country so it's ok if we rob you".
The issue here is not reverse-engineering a technology or purchasing it and replicating it. Many people would argue that it's inevitable.
What encompasses IP is not just technology though.
The concern is that there are foreign actors attacking businesses and doing much more than looking at technology. They are looking through financials for current accounts, revenue streams, customer lists, and pending contracts. They are taking the source code from software companies and schematics from hardware companies. They are effectively acquiring all the information necessary to replace those businesses, often without knowing what they have, and selling it higher up the food chain.
This particular actor in the article looks like really low hanging fruit compared to what other companies are warning they are being attacked by.
And don't forget Japanese - in the sixties and seventies, they were copying technologies exactly like Chinese do today and everyone was afraid they're going to overrun the whole world.
This article isn't about the individual unmasking of a hacker, but more about the humanistic element of unintentionally leaving clues about your identity while masquerading online.
I'm pointing this out because you're in for a highly anti-climactic read.
The university this guy works for (The PLA Information Engineering University) has a military background. And in China this means the teachers and many of the students are literally military personnel.
Well, it just goes to show what most people know already: That there is a vast campaign by the Chinese government to carry out hacks on foreign (and internal sometimes I bet) targets.
Basically, the thing I took away from the article is that it's so wide at this point that no matter the hacker there that you cast your net toward, it probably leads back to the government. In most other countries I imagine that most of the hackers are either third-party actors (selling what they got for cash or simply stealing cash), or random 'kids' hacking for fun/profit.
Be honest, the U.S. did for years the same and still do it. The problem is now: there is a other player, do it better. The exient would be more believably if U.S., UK, France ... would stop do the same to their "enemies" and allies
Is there anything you can do about chinese hackers. I have a small site and many of the ssh requests come from those hackers. Can I send the list somewhere?
Wait, what? How is this racist? If the story said 'All Chinese are hackers', that would be racist. If the story said, which it did, 'A person who lives and works in China for the government spy academy is a hacker', that is not racist.
Edit: Trolling troll is a troll. I 'knew' it was a troll account, but looked just now to be sure... created 34 minutes ago :P.
Did you read the article? The Chinese government is involved in a vast, systematic and sustained cyber attack against the United States (and many other countries).
If the NSA or CIA were doing this, people would be just as interested in reading about one of them being sloppy and getting unmasked.
[+] [-] mjmahone17|13 years ago|reply
The article quotes Stewart as saying: If they did it fair and square, more power to them. But to cheat at it is wrong.
This seems really problematic to me: it's not like all US companies do it "fair and square," and as a sovereign country, it seems like China has every right to summarily ignore IP, or to establish morals that don't care about protecting foreign IP.
[+] [-] hexagonc|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smsm42|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lionmind|13 years ago|reply
What encompasses IP is not just technology though.
The concern is that there are foreign actors attacking businesses and doing much more than looking at technology. They are looking through financials for current accounts, revenue streams, customer lists, and pending contracts. They are taking the source code from software companies and schematics from hardware companies. They are effectively acquiring all the information necessary to replace those businesses, often without knowing what they have, and selling it higher up the food chain.
This particular actor in the article looks like really low hanging fruit compared to what other companies are warning they are being attacked by.
[+] [-] alan_cx|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pepr|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BasDirks|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] walshemj|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jnp|13 years ago|reply
I'm pointing this out because you're in for a highly anti-climactic read.
[+] [-] bhauer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qschneier|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] druiid|13 years ago|reply
Basically, the thing I took away from the article is that it's so wide at this point that no matter the hacker there that you cast your net toward, it probably leads back to the government. In most other countries I imagine that most of the hackers are either third-party actors (selling what they got for cash or simply stealing cash), or random 'kids' hacking for fun/profit.
[+] [-] manten|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trotsky|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chaz|13 years ago|reply
Web version (3 pgs): http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-14/a-chinese-ha...
OT sidenote: why are so many mobile versions so unreadable on web?
[+] [-] deeqkah|13 years ago|reply
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5221484
[+] [-] greenyoda|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] berlinbrown|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hnriot|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spqr|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] yozmsn|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] chnshckr|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] druiid|13 years ago|reply
Edit: Trolling troll is a troll. I 'knew' it was a troll account, but looked just now to be sure... created 34 minutes ago :P.
[+] [-] dhimes|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wilfra|13 years ago|reply
If the NSA or CIA were doing this, people would be just as interested in reading about one of them being sloppy and getting unmasked.