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

I got this

[kerashi]

I got the warning about being accessed from China. Unfortunately, it came 2 days after I became aware of my gmail account and World of Warcraft account both being compromised. By that time I had already changed the password, and had Blizzard restore my stuff.

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.

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?

[bonch]

...Yet is the key point.

No, it's a stupid point. Nobody in America is going to be driving over college students with tanks. You're taking the extreme, anti-American position because you think it makes you more insightful and intellectual while ignoring the fact that your ability to even post criticism of your country in the first place is proof that America is completely different from China.

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?

Because you claimed America is putting people into forced labor prisons and selling their organs, and you didn't cite a single example for any of your claims. You also completely gloss over the actions and motivations during the Cold War. It's just the same, generic anti-American drivel you can find on someone's LiveJournal above anarchist gifs and Hugo Chavez quotes.

Insensitive Clods

[srussia]

I use a Chinese proxy server!

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

[Zelgadiss]

I'm not American or even European btw.

Given the recent situation with Japan, I don't know how else to see China.
Vietnam have been complaining about China's bully tactics for a while now, it's just that no one paid attention.

China has been gaining a lot of power, the US might not even be able to restraint them any more.
Frankly it scares me.

I hate to say this but the moron Bush might actually be right, China has to be contained.
If I could turn back time and somehow stop China from joining the WTO I would.

As for the US, the things you guys do in the middle east is one hell of a clusterfuck.

But I don't know.
I think would rather live under the thumb of the US government than the PRC.

From my point of view, maybe it's because I'm from a country friendly towards the US, US in general have been relatively benevolent "rulers" in comparison to what China could be capable of.

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.