Have you heard about the Google in China story? Well as Computerworld would relay the story, it is indeed very interesting. As indicated, Mr. Robert McMillan reported and quoted an unidentified source saying:
"…they [hackers] apparently were able to access a system used to help Google comply with search warrants by providing data on Google users, said a source familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. “Right before Christmas, it was, ‘Holy s***, this malware is accessing the internal intercept [systems],’” he said."
Apparently a spy system was already hosted by Google and this system provided the Government of China or any government with data from users. What they need to do is just to make a request the corresponding data through a warrant. The said internal spy system turned out to be Google's weak spot in security technology.
The question is why the Government of China will try to hack or enter into Google's system that provides it already with data of the users. The Chinese government was really gathering data on all the users of Google and not only their activists of the human rights. It was clear that China was attempting to spy on everybody and the internal spy system really compromised all the Google users.
This goes to show that Google gathers information about its users always and shows it in a format enabling it to hand it over to an agency of any government that commands a search warrant. Such a revelation is very embarrassing. In addition, Google mentioned something that China is going against human rights so that Google may get back at China but in fact, it was really vulnerability in the internal spying system of Google that really put all the users of Google in a compromised situation, and not just the activists of human rights.
i found additional information about this post. you may like to read this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/17/google-china-hacking-censorship
it says Google is not the only company to clash with the Chinese.and in the end, Google has a message: "...that China cannot have things all its own way."
updated news about this post... http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=29889&tag=nl.e539
China calls Google's claims of a cyber attack "groundless" http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31138&tag=nl.e550