It's remarkably ineffective bullying. Oh no, the web site was down for several minutes, and some unnecessary expenses were incurred! We're doomed!
What these guys need to learn to do is say "Fuck you, you're an idiot, and here is a coherent rebuttal:" and submit it to the news aggregators that gave the original article its popularity. There are enough contrarians that it should be easy to get a lot of people to read your rebuttal and take it seriously. Launching some half-assed attack on a server is the equivalent of just flinging poo, and it just doesn't work.
The thing is, the Chinese are fiercely nationalistic - it would not surprise me at all if many of these attacks are being done without government sanction.
I would tread carefully on news like this - it's easy to read too much into it, and it's too easy to manipulate, kind of like blaming all communists because one of them set fire to a building.
Are you kidding me? Take a look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_gSasJPs1Y. Chinese Plain-Clothes Officials Block CNN Cameras With Umbrellas In Tienanmen Square. How low can the Chinese government goes? They operated like a gang, no less.
And how does this indicate that these hack attacks are sanctioned or originate from the Chinese government?
Nobody is saying the Chinese government isn't censor-happy and oppressive, but get a grip on yourself man. Talk to some Chinese - particularly the young ones - and you will find a population very truly eager to attack the West in whatever way they can. It's more than likely that a significant number of hacks coming out of China today are occurring out of people's own free will, not by the explicit order of the government.
"Talk to some Chinese - particularly the young ones - and you will find a population very truly eager to attack the West in whatever way they can."
Why? I am genuinely curious. I can see why someone (say)in an Islamic society would want to attack the West, but why would a Chinese kid hate the West?
Yeah, the above "they're poor" explanation doesn't really hit the mark.
It's a combination of many things, some of which I will probably miss off the top of my head:
- Propaganda: The Chinese are educated to be very wary of Western influence. Western societies in media are often portrayed as disorganized and chaotic, so naturally there is aversion to Western ideas (though strangely, not Western products).
- Fear: There is a consistent belief (not unique to China) that America unduly uses its influence to exploit other nations for its own benefit. The education system encourages the attitude of "now it's our turn" with regards to their current economic boom. When Western countries do things like, say, discuss limitations on carbon emissions, the Chinese see this as deliberate sabotage of their economy fueled by jealousy of their success. There is a fairly prevalent belief that the US is out to "get" China, and that it's China's rightful turn to be the dominant global player.
- History: The Chinese have long proclaimed to have the richest history and was in fact the most powerful empire on Earth for significant periods of time through its history. Through nepotism and corruption the Qing dynasty fell to European conquest, and China was forced to accept extremely unfavourable surrender terms, and has basically been kicked around globally since then... until now. Think of China as the bullied kid with a grudge - now he's going to fuck you up, and there's not a thing you can do to convince him otherwise. There is definitely a lot of feelings of vengeance involved when it comes to Chinese antagonism of the West.
As a Chinese, I'm really, really terrified of China - not because they have a totalitarian regime, but because they have a totalitarian regime with popular support.
Also, there is a widespread belief that nobody will watch out for Chinese interests except the Chinese... so despite the imperfections of their government, many will defend it vehemently - because everyone else is out to get them.
If you are the Chinese kid making Barbie dolls all day long, wanting one but you can't afford one on your .10cent an hour salary you might hate the people who are going to enjoy those Barbie dolls too.
> The thing is, the Chinese are fiercely nationalistic
Maybe you mean the Han Chinese. Certainly the native Tibetans and the peoples in the Muslim/Islamic regions may not share this sentiment (Tibetan Buddhists and Muslims are considered 'terrorist religions.' IIRC, it's illegal to be Muslim in China and all new Tibetan Buddhist monks are required to become Party members).
I don't know where you heard about the Tibetan Buddhist required to join the communist party, but it just doesn't sound right. Joining the party is considered a privilege in China, you get all kinds of benefits, but mainly the ability to vote. I kinda doubt they would give this kind of political privilege to Tibetan monks.
Depends on how you define nationalistic. The hundreds of thousands of students who protested at the Tiananmen Square could also be considered nationalistic in some sense of the words.
You really don't understand how the topology of the Chinese political landscape has changed since 1989 - the "new" regime has brought wealth to tens of millions, and the country has seen dramatic modernization in the past decade and half. Not to mention the majority of China's young student population grew up completely divorced from the brutality of the Cultural Revolution. Something like Tiananmen Square simply cannot happen again today, even if it were allowed, simply because you wouldn't find enough supporters.
Keep in mind that when Tiananmen Square occurred, China was still a Soviet-style backwater with numerous spectacular failures at modernization. People were frustrated, oppressed, and starving. Now they're just oppressed - and that makes a huge difference.
The Chinese are nationalistic in the sense that they will defend their government, however imperfect they perceive it to be, because the alternative is treasonous (i.e., to side with foreign interests and ideology).
This is something Westerners find difficult to understand - but is very much rooted deeply in Chinese culture.
That's actually my point. "the Chinese are fiercely nationalistic" being too big of a blanket statement, since you are including the baby-boomers who protested all over the country in 1989, and older generations who spent their adulthood under Mao.
You can find many examples of China or other countries playing the bully. You'll get no disagreement from me.
Your point that "American CEO needs to think long term before moving jobs to China" gets closer to where we may find a solution. The trouble is that CEOs do not concern themselves with human rights in China or Intellectual Property other than their own. They make decisions for the most part on immediate value creation for shareholders.
If every CEO was a devote human, environment, and IP rights advocate and they all agreed to protecting these rights in the same manner, we wouldn't have a problem on this side of the equation.
Government and their proxy organizations, such as the WTO, are the ones that are supposed to level the playing field to ensure the CEOs have their hands bound on rules for engaging with developing countries. I do not believe we are close to handling this well.
[EDIT] It is fair to say that some foreign entities do a better job at respecting "global" thinking in regards to human, environment, and IP rights for their China engagements. As an example of worker "preference", several years ago, a poll was published (I think it was the China Daily, but I could be wrong) asking workers what boss would they rather have. The results, in order of preference: U.S., European (seen as more strict than the Americans), local Chinese, non-mainland Chinese (Taiwan, HK). These poll results seem in line with my experience.
What these guys need to learn to do is say "Fuck you, you're an idiot, and here is a coherent rebuttal:" and submit it to the news aggregators that gave the original article its popularity. There are enough contrarians that it should be easy to get a lot of people to read your rebuttal and take it seriously. Launching some half-assed attack on a server is the equivalent of just flinging poo, and it just doesn't work.