Google Warning Gmail Users On Spying From China

Trailrunner7 writes "Google is using automated warnings to alert users of its Gmail messaging service about widespread attempts to access personal mail accounts from Internet addresses in China. The warnings may indicate wholesale spying by the Chinese government a year after the Google Aurora attacks, or simply random attacks. Victims include one leading privacy activist. Warnings appeared when users logged onto Gmail, encountering a red banner reading, 'Your account was recently accessed from China,' and providing a list of IP addresses used to access the account. Users were then encouraged to change their password immediately. Based on Twitter posts, there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the accounts that were accessed, though one target is a prominent privacy rights activist in the UK who has spoken out against the Chinese government's censorship of its citizens. A Google spokesman declined to comment on the latest warnings specifically. The company has been issuing similar warnings since March, when it introduced features to identify suspicious account activity."

Comments

Re:China shouldn't have been allowed to join the W

[Darkness404]

And what the hell do you think the US does? We do everything that China does only because we're "the west" we aren't scared about it. See, the thing is, the US government can basically force Google to access your account. I much rather have a Chinese attack where I'm alerted about it than a US attack that happens stealthily.

Yeah, China has human rights abuses and so does the US. There are people detained by US authorities who don't even have a fucking clue why they are detained because the US won't tell them!

This idea that China is a super-villain and the US is a superhero is based off of myth, nationalism and ignorance, we are no better than the Chinese.

Maybe some access controls would help

[joeflies]

Let's see - I have never been in China and don't plan to go in the near future - maybe if Google added a feature that allows me to CONTROL what countries I can access it from, it could alleviate a lot of this problem.

I'm sure those crafty hackers will find a way around it and divert through a US waypoint, but there's no need for my account to have broad access from countries I am never going to access it from.

Re:Maybe some access controls would help

[Anonymous Coward]

They'd just go through a US proxy... That's no help at all.

Re:Maybe some access controls would help

[countertrolling]

Governments are virtually powerless outside their own boundaries.

I did not know that...

This has my approval

[mykos]

Go ahead and comply with government demands, but tell the common people what the government is doing to them. I like it.

What reality do you live in?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea, except when China detains you they throw you in the Laogai (Chinese gulag - forced labor prison) and harvests your organs to sell to rich westerners whose children are dying of non-functioning organs for which there is normally a giant waiting list.

And, keep in mind, China does that if you are nothing more than a political opponent, dissenter, or critic. Your fair trial consists of, "You are guilty."

When the U.S. (wrongly) detained the friend of Assange, leader of WikiLeaks, earlier this year they had to let him go. Our laws have been designed to protect human rights from abuse by even our own government. You can't say the same thing about the Chinese.

I hate to admit it, but I still love buying cheap crap from them, though.

I'm sort of afraid to post this comment now. *breathes deeply and pressing the submit button*

Re:What reality do you live in?

[Darkness404]

...Yet is the key point.

The US might have not ran over any of its own college students with a tank, but in the third world during the cold war it funded dictatorships that suppressed dissent and killed dissenters.

Why is it that it is considered terrible that China would kill its own citizens but yet it apparently is a "troll" to point out that the US does it to citizens of other countries?

Re:What reality do you live in?

[Raenex]

The guy who was hit by the tank chose to stand in front of it. The students who were shot were unarmed protesters and bystanders.

Tank Man was not run over. He stopped a column of tanks. The soldier in that tank did not want to run over a civilian in cold blood.

The difference between China and the United States is that in China you can't search for Tiananmen Square and find out about the 1989 protest. You won't find a popular song about it. The Kent State shootings are an acknowledged black mark in United States history.

Re:What reality do you live in?

[oiron]

And Chinese law is sometimes intentionally ambiguous and if you are clever enough you'll have more freedom than you want.

Just so long as you don't criticize anyone in power.

Hypocrites

[guspasho]

I'm not worried about China, I'm worried about my own government spying on me with Google's cooperation.

People in glass houses

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Parsing your data for profit, et cetera...

Or is that okay in free market halfassery?

How many non-CN gmail users ever use Gmail in CN?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't ever expect to use my Gmail from China.

I very rarely use my Gmail from anywhere outside the US.

I'd like to block ALL COUNTRIES from my Gmail, except the US. Then when I travel, I can add the country I am going to visit - for as long as I'm there.

Ideally, this function could tie in to my World Mate app on the BlackBerry - it knows when I am out of the country or not.

Re:G should support FireGPG-like product

[andymadigan]

I fail to see how this would help at all. Part of the problem with someone gaining access to your e-mail account is that it can be used to gain access to all of your accounts. The other problem is that it can be used to send spam/viruses. Neither of those would be fixed by encryption. If you want encrypted e-mail, use servers under your control.