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The US and China Agree Not To Conduct Economic Espionage In Cyberspace

Posted by samzenpus on from the play-nice dept.

blottsie writes: The leaders of China and the United States agreed on Friday to take new steps to address cyberspying, vowing that neither country would conduct or knowingly support the theft of intellectual property. Senior law-enforcement and intelligence officials from both nations will evaluate how the two major powers respond to each other's requests for assistance fighting "malicious cyber activity," the White House said in a statement. The group will hold its first meeting before the end of the year, with subsequent meetings occurring twice per year.

11 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. what a pushover by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, we're going to trust China not to hack?! Great plan Obama!

    1. Re:what a pushover by imidan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No. And your trite oversimplification is utterly worthless. We make the agreement so that when China *does* break it, we have a protocol in place for responding. We contact the Chinese government, we point at the malicious behavior, and we expect them to correct it. If they do not, then we have put in a good-faith effort, and we can enact our own consequences.

      It's a first step. It's not the entire solution. But we have to start somewhere.

    2. Re:what a pushover by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My money is on that US broke the agreement before China did.

      Yes, I assume that it happened before this news hit Slashdot.

    3. Re:what a pushover by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In all reality I'd bet neither side intends to abide by it. It's yet another treaty not worth the paper it's written on.

    4. Re:what a pushover by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So, we're going to trust China not to hack?!

      Every bit as much as they're going to trust the U.S. not to hack them.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    5. Re:what a pushover by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Obama is not sending jobs to China. Corporations are.

    6. Re:what a pushover by sshir · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My guess is that both sides will start to do it Russian style - outsource the "data acquisition" step to 3rd parties. In Russian case those are outright criminal organizations, mixing business with pleasure, so to speak.

    7. Re:what a pushover by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The data that the United States is looking for, is which firms are manufacturing which items, for which client. The tech is more or less irrelevant.

      The data that PRC is looking for, is the tech that makes their manufacturing companies more efficient at doing so. What the product is, and who the customer is, is more or less irrelevant.

      What this treaty means, is that both countries will openly exchange the requested data, albeit through back channels, rather than clandestinely.

  2. HA - HA - HA!!! by sshir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I almost peed myself laughing... Were they able to keep their faces straight when they were "agreeing"?

  3. Re:Hmmmm. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Translation: both sides will work harder at hiding it.

  4. Re:Too late, China has a reputation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Everybody in the USA knows China has been grabbing everything it can by digital espionage for a long time now.

    And ha ha, guess what -- thanks to Snowden, everybody in China, not to mention the world, knows that the USA indiscriminately grabs whatever it can from foreign sources.

    Only a fool would believe that either side has any intentions of stopping.

    Sane people realize that both sides have had what some term greedy individuals or organizations that have done questionable things that cost their side or the other dearly. It's not government sanctioned and certainly predates cyber-warefare. It's other individuals/organizations with their own agendas doing it. These two highest leaders of two of the largest nation states are doing what you'd expect them to do. "Yes, we have a problem, and we both will do what we can to improve it." It's an uphill battle for sure, because these individuals/organizations will do almost anything to continue to do whatever it is they do.