Surveillance Backdoor Enabled Chinese Gmail Attack?

Major Blud writes "CNN is running an opinion piece on their front page from security technologist Bruce Schneier, in which he suggests that 'In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access.' His article is short on sources, and the common belief is that a flaw in IE was the main attack method. Has this come up elsewhere? Schneier continues, 'Whether the eavesdroppers are the good guys or the bad guys, these systems put us all at greater risk. Communications systems that have no inherent eavesdropping capabilities are more secure than systems with those capabilities built in. And it's bad civic hygiene to build technologies that could someday be used to facilitate a police state.'"

Comments

Re:The People's Responsibility

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(...) companies are supposed to tell the government "no" on their own? It's the people's responsibility (...)

Companies are run by people. Companies do what people in charge want. Companies are there to help the public, not the other way around. I think it is indeed up to companies to openly state their political views and to work towards them.