Google, the Internet Giant decided to take on China this week. Speculation is that Google was put up to it by Washington. Human rights advocates are cheering on Google. Ex-pat Chinese dissidents are cheering on Google. Some of the Chinese are cheering on Google. Beijing, however, is controlling the game.
Google’s first complaint was that some e-mail accounts purportedly owned or used by internal and external dissidents were hacked into. That is a valid complaint and should be properly investigated.
If the hacking was done by individuals, then most certainly all applicable laws should be utilized to punish those responsible. If the hacking was done by, or at the bequest of Beijing, that raises other issues.
The US has an array of laws that allow, and disallow the government to snoop on both Americans and foreigners – all in the name of “national security.” We know that America does it, regardless of what the laws are – typically after the fact, and only after great pressure is brought on the government to confess its misdeeds. What we do not know about are all the details about the “hidden espionage” and “hidden national security” fronts that the US utilizes to gain information about its own, and other people. It happens. Everyone knows it happens. The problem is that nothing can be proven conclusively.
If you are a liberal, shame on America for doing those things. If you are a conservative, then ‘good on America’ for doing this because after all, national security trumps individual privacy and rights. We know this because 58% of the American public supports in torture to obtain information about terrorism and anti-American activities.
Beijing does things as quietly as Washington tries to do things. There is the possibility that Beijing has either engaged in the hacking of accounts or allowed / instructed others to do so. Like America, they engage in such activities for “national security.” For Washington to criticize Beijing for doing that is hypocritical. Why should Beijing be held to a higher standard than what Washington holds itself to? (more…)
