Google threatened late Tuesday to pull out of its operations in China after it said it had uncovered a massive cyber attack on its computers that originated there.
As a result, the company said, it would no longer agree to censor its search engine in China and may exit the country altogether.
Google said that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human right activists, but that the attack also targeted 20 other large companies in the finance, technology, media and chemical sectors.
In a blog posting by David Drummond, the corporate development and chief legal officer, Google said that it had found a “highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China.”
Have the self-righteous ‘Don’t be evil’ ones rediscovered their core value: ‘Don’t lose money’?
Perhaps, azuza. Or maybe they’ve discovered a core necessity: ‘Don’t be naive.’ Let that be a lesson to all of us. One good example we should be thinking about: What are the consequences of allowing ourselves to be in debt to this country? What are the consequences of allowing managers and shareholders of U.S. manufacturing and technology companies to enrich themselves while doing business with China and looking the other way at their core values? What are the consequences for consumers of becoming dependent on cheap Chinese imports?
azusa,
In a cyber attack there is far more to lose than money. Note that the attack targeted the personal e-mail accounts of human rights groups operating in China. Information can be gained through such attacks that could mean people are imprisoned and even executed for sedition. If anything, Google stands to lose money by pulling out of China.