"Our country is at a crucial stage of reform and development, and this is a period of marked social conflicts. Properly guiding Internet opinion is a major measure for protecting Internet information security." These are the words of Wang Chen, the Minister of the State Council Information Office, People's Republic of China. Is "properly guiding Internet opinion" just a euphemism for the repressive censorship for which China is reputed? Google's recent upset with China over hacking raids on Google's source code to target human rights supporters stands in counterpoint to Mr. Wang Chen's statements(see article), forming a more objective picture. I have long seen the totalitarian regime of the PRC in only one stark light, but I'm becoming aware that although their methods are brutal and repressive, many of their fears are valid concerning civil unrest and security problems in their nation. In the U.S. we got a wake-up call from the Aurora project which exposed the vulnerability of our nation's infrastructure (the power grid in particular) to hacker attacks. We ought to be as conscientious as the Chinese government in protecting our corner of the Internet — for our own sakes and the rest of the Web's. However, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." In other words, we must also protect ourselves from our own desire to be ruled and protected too much.
Articles cited:
China vs. Google
China's security needs
Aurora Vulnerability
There is also an interesting discussion on the Aurora Vulnerability at
ControlGlobal.com
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