Hillary Rodham Clinton stood by Google on its case against China. “Censorship should not be in any way accepted by any company from anywhere,” Mrs. Clinton said. “American companies need to take a principled stand. This needs to be part of our national brand.”
She did not mention that the US government routinely monitor the Web and bring the force of the laws and the ire of the government upon those whom they deemed illegal or threatening to the national security. USA is not alone. All countries disallow certain communications, Internet or not, with legal, political, or administrative means. The citizens usually has three choices: obey the laws by not communcating those topics, do so anyway and risk getting prosecuted, or move to another country that permits them.
Countries mostly agreed that IP theft, child pornography, and terrorism should be banned. Other topics, such as file sharing, privacy, and political viewpoints are of much debate. The general protocol frowns upon imposing one’s values on others. Without this respect for basic sovereignty, countries could only resort to force, usually not pleasant.
Sen. Clinton also said, “Countries or individuals that engage in cyber-attacks should face consequences and international condemnation.” We now have sufficient evidence that the attacks on Google, Apple, Yahoo, and other US companies were well organized, well funded, and sophisticated. They were the act of professionals (the best of them are NSA and CIA, two US government agencies). It is quite rare that those professional leave traces, let alone get caught. Clinton implied that China government initiated those attacks. Did she mean to unleash NSA or CIA upon China as part of those “consequences and condemnation?” Meet evil with evil, an eye for an eye?