Apparently, the Internet and the information that is accessed online is the new battlefront in an international policy war. On January 12th, Google released a statement in which said that its networks, particularly Gmail web accounts, had been illegally accessed by hackers in China. The Gmail accounts belonged to political dissidents, and according to Google, some intellectual property was stolen. As a result of the cyber attack, Google announced that it is no longer willing to censor its searches in China and may consider pulling out of China altogether. After the announcement, there was a flurry of activity by the governments of both countries. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech on Thursday that, "Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of Internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century…With the spread of these restrictive practices, a new information curtain is descending across much of the world." She went on to give veiled criticism that the incident raised serious questions about China’s ability to monitor its own networks and that, “Countries or individuals that engage in cyber attacks should face consequences and international condemnation.”
China’s government was swift in its response. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhouxu said, "We resolutely oppose such remarks and practices that contravene facts and undermine China-US relations.” He denied any wrongdoing on the party of the Chinese government and said that, “China's Internet is open. China is a country with the most vibrant Internet development.”
This incident is raising serious questions about the extent to which governments can censor and monitor Internet data. Most Democratic countries have significant cyber-monitoring, censoring and spying networks aimed at keeping their countries safe. The U.S. has its own version of domestic cyber spying thanks to the provisions in the Patriot Act, which makes it legal for government agencies to tap phones and search emails in an effort to combat terrorism. Because of this, cell phone companies, internet service providers and other businesses must create “backdoor entries” for the U.S. government to access the information. Ironically enough, the method that hackers used to access the email accounts was by exploiting a backdoor entrance that Google had created for China’s government to monitor email correspondences.
How do the Chinese people feel about all the controversy? Unfortunately, due to the way that China censors its media and online social networking, it is hard to know exactly how the Chinese people feel about the whole scandal. Professor Mary Gallagher, director of the Center for Chinese Studies says that many Chinese are in opposition to the censorship. Professor Gallagher notes that particularly, “the young urban Chinese student does not agree with censorship in China. Also, recent surveys show that the majority of Chinese people disagree with the government censorship of particular information.” However, she says that “most Chinese are very patriotic and find it difficult to support their country while disagreeing with the government.”
In an email interview, Yue Ma, a Chinese student who is a member of the Chinese Undergraduate Student Association says that he loves China, but he is disappointed by the Chinese government’s decisions. However, he is optimistic that something can be done. “I'm sure if Google quit its business in China, it will affect people's live[s] a lot. And to me, I hope Google can stay in China forever. But… I think if any company wants to stay in a place for business, it should follow and respect the law.”
This conflict has thrown the influence that Google has on the web-browsing world into the international spotlight. In fact, Professor Gallagher remarks that, “China’s reaction was much more conciliatory than expected, since this is the first time in a long time that a large, multinational corporation has openly spoken out against the Chinese government. The question is: will that influence be enough to allow them to continue business the way they want in the country with the most internet users.
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