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US To Charge Chinese Military Employees With Hacking

jfruh (300774) writes "The U.S. federal government will announce today indictments of several employees of the Chinese military with hacking into computers to steal industrial secrets. The indictments will be the first of their kind against employees of a foreign government. Among the trade secrets allegedly stolen by the accused are information about a nuclear power plant design and a solar panel company's cost and pricing data."

34 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Vs the NSA by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Which just steals secrets from the states, vs corporate secrets and giving them to GM, Apple, General Electric, etc.

    1. Re:Vs the NSA by gl4ss · · Score: 5, Insightful

      yeah it's weird in that regard that they went for opening that pandoras box... the chinese will just indict in response.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Vs the NSA by captainpanic · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least that makes for a bulletproof court case: NSA files show that the data is now stored on a Chinese government computer... Oh, wait.

    3. Re:Vs the NSA by erikkemperman · · Score: 3, Interesting

      TFS and TFA are both ridiculously vague.

      How exactly does this work, in terms of jurisdiction? Is this a case for the ICC? WTO?

      Or is it now (officially) the position of USJ that its jurisdiction covers the whole planet?

      --
      Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
    4. Re:Vs the NSA by Bob9113 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      yeah it's weird in that regard that they went for opening that pandoras box... the chinese will just indict in response.

      Weird enough that it has me trying to figure out why they would do it. The other thing that seems weird is that we're charging the guys who were just following orders. Why charge the foot soldiers instead of the generals who ordered the action? It's a pretty extreme tinfoil hat scenario, but could they be trying to establish a story frame of throwing the boots to the wolves, so Clapper and Alexander don't go down?

    5. Re:Vs the NSA by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A country can claim jurisdiction anywhere on the planet, but the trick is to be able to enforce that claim of jurisdiction...

    6. Re:Vs the NSA by LifesABeach · · Score: 3

      One has to wonder about several things. 1, how does the U.S. know whom to indite? 2. jurisdiction of the U.S.? 3. And are we finally seeing the ignoring of this Pin Headed concept of BRIC Nations?

      Also, is the U.S. going after the person who said, "ya, it's good idea; do it." or just the teams of rank and file only?

    7. Re:Vs the NSA by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Someone sent the DOJ a copy of "team america" and they believe it is their new mission.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    8. Re:Vs the NSA by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 3, Funny

      Likely it will just be "John/Jane Doe" indictments.

      So we will be charging no suspect and prosecute them in absentia where they will have no defense, as such it is a forgone conclusion that they will be found guilty, so what is that plan have convictions made up with a "insert name here..." line? Yeah I feel safe living in country that thinks this is fine...

      And beyond the obvious dubiousness of these proceedings isn't this a major pot calling the kettle black situation after everything Snowden has showed us in the past year of the NSA spying, hack/cracking, emplanting of back doors, stealing foreign secrets. We have no moral high ground to stand on in this fight.

      --
      ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  2. Jurisdiction by Richy_T · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The US govt doesn't know the meaning of the word. Sovereignty's another.

    1. Re:Jurisdiction by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      These are political moves. Said actual people better not leave China or Chinese-friendly (extradition-wise) nations.

      Yes it won't do much but it is a statement that your government ordered it is not gonna help you.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    2. Re:Jurisdiction by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 3, Informative

      The US govt doesn't know the meaning of the word. Sovereignty's another.

      Neither does the EU or probably most if not all other countries in the world. Did you know that France makes Ebay restrict certain listings on every Ebay site in the world, not just the French Ebay site, so that French citizens are theoretically prevented (by IP address) from (gasp!) seeing them? Italy has also tried to enforce its law beyond its national borders. Spain went so far as to try people from crimes committed in Latin America that had nothing to do with Spanish citizens. Austria put a Holocaust denier in jail for a while for statements he made in the UK, not Austria. Once he came to Austria they simply nabbed him and charged them under their anti-Nazi laws for something that didn't even happen on Austrian soil. So spare me the usual US bashing.

  3. Talk about by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the pot and the kettle.

  4. Does that mean ... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that I can sue the NSA for trying to crack my machines and that the USA will extradite the NSA employees to the UK so that they can be tried in our courts ? Do the people at the USA DOJ understand the meaning of the word ''irony'' ?

    This is more outlandish than even something that most political satire writers would have dreamed up.

  5. Do as I say, not... by ThomasBHardy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does anyone else find this particularly ironic and posturing after the "Cisco Complains To Obama About NSA Adding Spyware To Routers" article earlier?

    --
    Warning: Teh poster of this messaeg is lysdexic
  6. Good luck with that. by pla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No doubt, China will cooperate fully in extraditing members of their active military so they can stand trial in the US for following their orders.

    Not an Obama hater, but seriously, Russia and now China? Trying to start WWIII on two fronts, in case one backs down? 2016 can't come fast enough.

    1. Re:Good luck with that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "2016 can't come fast enough." You're an idiot if you think that changes ANYTHING AT ALL.

    2. Re:Good luck with that. by just_another_sean · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If the democrats are the ones currently instigating WWIII than 2016 ain't going to help. If a Republican gets elected (unless it's Ron Paul, and I'm not holding my breath for that!) than their just going to look at the previous 8 years as laying the ground work. And any democrat that gets elected is going to assume that their election is voter approval of the current administration's policies, otherwise the voters would have ousted the Dems and brought in a Rep.

      In other words, in a two party system, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't...

      --
      Creationist Textbook Stickers Declared Unconstitutional by CowboyNeal
    3. Re:Good luck with that. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There isn't much that can be done in response to Russia. Military action is out of the question: One does not start an open war with a nuclear superpower lightly. Economic sanctions hurt both sites, and Europe needs Russia as much as Russia needs Europe. They supply the gas that keeps the lights on.

  7. Very Bad Precedent by HighOrbit · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except for the special cases of crimes against humanity and "non official cover" spies, soldiers and civil servents should not be held criminally liable for doing their jobs or executing policy set by their superiors. Since we don't want our own military and government employees charged with 'crimes' for carrying out their duties, this is a very bad idea because it sets the precedent.

    1. Re:Very Bad Precedent by jbmartin6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      On the contrary, every person should be held criminally liable for their actions regardless of instructions from "superiors". This would be an excellent precedent, let's get rid of the idea that a person can hide behind an organization or some other conspiracy and not be responsible for their own actions.

      --
      This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    2. Re:Very Bad Precedent by radja · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There is already a precedent. German soldiers were tried and sentenced for carrying out orders in the concentration camps.

      --

      No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
      --Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
    3. Re:Very Bad Precedent by HighOrbit · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That opens the door to politically motivated prosecutions of civil servants who carried out a policy you just disagree with. Again, there are special crimes against humanity that everybody gets held responsible for, but do you really want to prosecute a worker-bee at the IRS because you disagree with an 'unjust' tax policy?

    4. Re:Very Bad Precedent by mlyle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If it's unjust enough, yes.

      First, if we hold people immune/not morally responsible for whatever they do as part of misbehaving organizations, we've removed one of the final checks and balances from these organizations. We've effectively capitulated, saying that when you get enough people together they can turn into a crushing, evil leviathan, as long as there's not a blatantly clear organizational criminal conspiracy. People should be people, making (and held accountable for) moral judgments about the actions they take.

      My former boss made a mistake with the whole AMT thing. He exercised below market rate stock options and held the stock until the value went to 0. He made no actual money, but ended up with a tax liability and IRS employees systematically liquidating his assets. There are supposed to be things in the organization to protect against this-- an ombudsman, proscriptions against proceeding with such blatantly unfair and unaffordable collection practices, etc. He's in his late 60s and they just took everything. I think the people who didn't pull the organizational lever to stop the process, presumably because it wasn't helping them meet their collection targets, should be in prison.

  8. These indictments are pure lip service. by Apharmd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How will the US enforce them? This will just make our government look weak.

  9. Interesting Strategy by diakka · · Score: 4, Informative

    Surely they're not going to get any cooperation from the Chinese government on this, but by naming these individuals, they could be limiting the future career choices of those individuals. Want to work at a foreign compa ny? might be tough. Want to travel to the US or country that has extradition with the US? Better think twice about that. Even if you want to work at a local Chinese company, you might not be able to command as high of a salary if you can't get competing offers from foreign companies. A high percentage of well moneyed and educated individuals in China have plans to emigrate to foreign countries with the growing pains China has on the horizon, and some talented folks might be dissuaded from this career path. How this will play out in the real world is hard to say, but If the US didn't think it would have some effect, I don't think they'd do it.

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    -- Knowledge shared is power lost. -- Aleister Crowley
  10. Re:Sanctions by pla · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next up is sanctions against the individuals in question. No more iPhones for you!

    I can hear the quote from Zhang Gaoli already: "After analyzing the sanctions against our military officers, I suggest to the USA to make their iPads using cardboard and trained fireflies".

    Oh, wait, China makes most of the world's cardboard, too. Hmm... Woven cat hairballs? I think we still have at least some domestic production of those, if Fluffy hasn't outsourced it to a Mexican Hairless (don't ask) yet...

  11. China is hacking? There's a surprise by bobbied · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm just going to have a heart attack and DIE from that surprise..

    This is SO STUPID. If you cannot get your hands on the hackers to arrest them, then why bother with saying anything? Just keep the honey pot in place and keep tracing where the attacks are coming from. Then, when you can get your hands on them it's special rendition time. This tell the public what happened only serves to notify everybody that you got hacked and then trying to take legal action to punish the hackers which has no hope of doing anything says you are inept and clueless too.

    You knew I would drink from the glass in front of me, so you switched the glasses so the one in front of me has the poison... BUT, you knew I would think that so CLEARLY the glass in front of you has the poison.... etc.. We are right at the "Never get in a land war in Asia.. " Line being spoken by this administration, only they are not wearing the mask.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  12. Hilarity ensues by Virtucon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For decades now we've treated the Internet like an open house with everybody welcome and everybody allowed to come in and browse. As more and more technologies/designs/secrets have been put into computer systems they've been linked via Intranets within organizations and more importantly, and stupidly, on the Internet in the name of saving time or they've just been exposed because the people who are supposed to protect that information are incompetent idiots. That's the root cause here, not protecting the information that's held in those systems. China and other governments have employed script kiddies and any other tactics like purchased vulnerabilities to dig in, but again it's up to the holders of that data to protect it and to know what kind of enemies they're up against. Industrial espionage is nothing new, it's been around for centuries so why are we all shocked that this is allowed to happen? The secrets of the A-Bomb were leaked out of Los Alamos by sympathetic spies and some were executed for it. The B-29 bomber, a program that cost more than the A-Bomb to develop, was completely reverse engineered from one aircraft that made an emergency landing in the Soviet Union. It was copied right down to the same overheating engine problem that destroyed many of the aircraft. Chinese spies have recently been sent to prison for espionage so why is this suddenly news?

    While I'm glad that the US Govt. is trying to do something about all of this it's a bit late and ultimately it's up to all the industries that have technology worth stealing to start taking steps to protect their IP and their confidential information. This also means protecting yourself from the US government because as we all know the NSA is also passively watching everything you do. My suggesting is that there should be sufficient air gaps between your R&D/Competitive information and Intranets/Internet for starters and also start employing a risk mitigation strategy in your data handling practices because chances are your sensitive information is probably already public knowledge somewhere.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  13. Do you hear that? by jeff13 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do you here that? It's the sound of a billion people on the other side of the world loling.

  14. Re:presumably... by NotDrWho · · Score: 3

    Allow me to summarize the American legal system when it comes to international affairs:

    Anything done by the U.S. = Legal
    Anything done by U.S. corporations = Legal
    Anything done by any country the U.S. doesn't like = Illegal
    Anything done by any corporation that doesn't play ball with the U.S. = Illegal

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  15. Dave Aitel (CEO Immunity, Inc.) says it best by mysidia · · Score: 3, Informative

    @daveaitel All espionage is illegal in the country you do it against.

    And since everyone in the world in any country, especially banks (under FACTA) and foreign officials are under US jurisdiction, why not indict?

  16. Chinese official response by BradMajors · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Chinese official response (in Chinese): http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_ch...

  17. Re:Oblig frosty by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    US?

    What a bunch of arrogant, hypocritical pricks. The whole NSA SHITHOUSE comes down around their ears, with backdoored network devices and eavesdropping on world leaders - then these paragons of fucking virtue blame "cyber war" on individuals in a foreign government?

    Why the fuck don't they haul meglomaniac Keith Alexander off of his fucking starship and drag his sorry arse, along with Elmer Fudd^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Michael Hayden, into the dock?

    China has a developed diplomatic culture. This type of International behavior from the US is pure "play at home" propaganda, with the diplomatic effect of a bull in a china-shop, so to speak. Offensive, ignorant, unnecessary, and duplicitous.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."