The point that most of you are missing is that the NSA's intelligence gathering activity and activities of that class are completely unrelated to these charges. They are being charged with <i>economic</i> hacking activities. Trade secrets were being lifted and handed to Chinese companies. An analog would be like the NSA harvesting data from Samsung and then passing it to Apple, which is the type of stuff that we have no evidence of thus far. Regardless of your feelings on the NSA's actions, this isn't the same type of "all countries hack each other" activity.<p>And if you think metal and solar companies are the only one suffering these sorts of attacks, you're crazy. I think it's just that the other victims don't want to be named publicly for a variety of reasons. This sort of activity is a serious problem, but you can't just file charges all willy-nilly. Fortunately the U.S. already had economic actions in motion through resolution channels pertaining to the dumping of solar tech, so it makes this sort of thing much easier to do I think.
It's so strange seeing a person in full military outfit (and Chinese) on FBI's "cyber" most wanted list: <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber" rel="nofollow">http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber</a><p>When it pretty much has always been 20-something eastern-euro/Russian and the odd middle eastern hacker.
For those who are calling the actions of the US "hypocritical" and others who are indiscriminately defending the US by saying "but we didn't do this and that" - don't forget to distinguish between individuals and countries.<p>Those who are doing this in China are most likely not doing this for China - they are taking advantage of state resources to benefit themselves and their cronies. As much as they are stealing from the US, they are stealing from their own citizens. This is good old-fashioned corruption.<p>The loop of corruption tends to be more subtle and longer in the US, but it's also most likely the case many people who are engaged in espionage, corporate or otherwise, are out for themselves and using the information, expenditures, etc, to directly or indirectly benefit themselves.<p>Random people from China and France and the US arguing among themselves pretending that the enemy is definitely the spying apparatus in the other country and not their own and so on is kind of missing the point and worse, doing exactly what the perpetrators want us to be doing. The discord between nations, manufactured or not, is their raison d'etre - it's what keeps them funded.<p>With that said, holding specific individuals responsible and make their lives difficult is sounds pretty good to me. I wish this happened more often, for US officials abusing their authority as well as foreign officials.<p>Edit: The point isn't that these people aren't employed by the Chinese government, but that the end goal is almost certainly private gains. China isn't some single unified entity where all government employees are working tirelessly for "China" or in this case, to benefit corporate titans who are much richer than they are - economic espionage on behalf of specific private sector entities is almost certainly about some quid pro quo by which government employees are monetizing their official capacity.
Nice timing, Cisco just sent Obama a letter complaining about NSA tampering...<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27468794" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27468794</a>
I've yet to read up on this. But my initial reaction is: And zero accountability for those responsible for the gross systems mismanagement that too often enabled this activity.<p>I fear that security on the Internet is moving towards "rubber hose" security. It's not about truly securing systems and processes; instead, physical means will be used to intimidate and "punish".<p>And even then, it's not the truly responsible who are being intimidated. Nor, in the current circumstance, are the physical measures directly effective.<p>Instead, we have propaganda. "Don't look at our mistakes and neglect. Spend your anger and frustration on these foreign nationals, all conveniently framed for maximum effect. And never mind that we (government as well as private industry) do the same -- we're the 'good guys'."
I'd say this is an instance of the pot calling the kettle black but the US has done far more than simply spy on foreign companies so calling it straight up hypocrisy is a huge understatement.
Magicians misdirect the audience using similar tactics.<p>This is the equivalent to a woman in a skimpy outfit walking around on the stage, and bending over in a low-cut dress, while the magician switches one object for another.
I wonder if the Chinese will charge a few Americans with something in retaliation.<p>Standing on its own, this action is pointless. As part of a larger strategy to provide evidence to justify future tariffs or sanctions, it would make sense. My guess is that's where the US is heading with this.
hmmm... before Snowden said it out we didn't know anything about what NSA is doing, but at that time, the US government was always saying China is doing what NSA is doing.<p>I was not accusing anything, but you see, the announcement is lack of persuasion.<p>The spying game seems to be a zero-sum game. After charged china for spying for business, the US government may find it won't have any effect, then the best strategy will turns out to be doing the same. Think about the billions of the dollars companies spend as political contribution.<p>After the war begins, It really doesn't matter who shot the first bullet.
No doubt said Chinese persons are distraught at the prospect of never being able to visit Disneyland. Short of WWIII there isn't much way to enforce such a verdict over foreigners on foreign soil.
I wonder what the motivation is behind these charges. I have a hard time believing this to be remotely comparable to what NSA is doing both in term of technical capability and scale. I mean, ffs, these "military hackers" use their initials in the aliases. (according to FBI's wanted page)