The Justice Department has indicted five members of the Chinese military on charges of hacking into computers and stealing valuable trade secrets from leading steel, nuclear plant and solar power firms, marking the first time that the United States has leveled such criminal charges against a foreign country. Attorney General Eric Holder formally announced the U.S. plan to bring charges against members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army for hacking into the computers of six organizations in western Pennsylvania. A Justice Department indictment details what it says were cases of industrial spying by an army unit. The landmark case paves the way for more indictments and demonstrates that the United States is serious about holding foreign governments accountable for crimes committed in cyberspace, officials said at a news conference Monday. The Obama administration “will not tolerate actions by any nation that seeks to illegally sabotage American companies and undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said.
WikiLeaks vows to reveal second country where NSA is recording all mobile phone calls
It was revealed a few days ago that the Bahamas and one other country were having most of their mobile calls recorded and stored by a powerful NSA program called SOMALGET.
So setting up a domestic and international surveillence network responsible for recording mobile calls of almost an entire nation, the American people, European leaders and god knows who else is fine as long as it doesn’t affect free trade. The US is spying on people. In the case with China a military unit was spying on 6 companies in Pennsylvannia. This doesn’t demonstrate to me that the US is serious about holding foreign governments accountable for crimes in CyberSpace. We haven’t held ourselves accountable for our own crimes. Look at the facts:
- The NSA was using a separate program, MYSTIC, to scoop up metadata – raw data that does not include actual conversations – from phone calls in the Bahamas, Mexico, Kenya and the Philippines. It is SOMALGET, however, that is sure to cause the biggest controversy, as actual conversations are stored for up to 30 days before the agency wipes them.
- The NSA previously attempted to justify its “metadata” trawling as a means to identify threats to US national security such as terrorism. But the documents indicate that mobile network data can be used as a method of pursuing criminals in conjunction with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
Does anyone see a slight bit of irony or hypocrisy here or is it just me? I know in one cases the chinese military is stealing valuable information and the other agency is stealing personal information but doesn’t that set a precedent though. That people are only meaningful when you can find ways to use them to get the things you (those in power want). In an oligarchy where businesses rule politics I am not surprised that the stealing of trade secrets trumps abuses of personal freedoms and liberties in our own country and abroad
ASpoonfulofSuga 