WikiLeaks: Beijing Blamed for Google Hacking

CBS/AP

A leading Chinese Communist official's anger over finding criticism of himself online led to a government effort to hack the Internet giant Google, prompting the search engine to close up shop in China, according to U.S. state Department cables.

The messages, written by U.S. diplomats to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were among the cables leaked by WikiLeaks and published today by the British Guardian newspaper.

According to the text of the undated cable sent from the embassy in Beijing to Washington, " . . . closely held Chinese government operations against Google had been coordinated out of the State Council Information Office."

Government operations against Google were quoted as being " 'one hundred percent' political in nature," and were not seen at simply attempts to remove Google as a competitor to native Chinese search engines, such as Baidu.

CBSNews.com Special Report: WikiLeaks

The cable also states that according to their sources, "Chinese interference in the operations of foreign businesses is widespread and often underreported to U.S. parent companies."

The cable states that a senior Politburo member has googled his name and found articles personally criticizing him. That prompted the political assault on Google.

An embassy cable marked secret also states that an effort to break into the Gmail accounts of dissidents was overseen by two politburo members.

In March Google shut down its mainland Chinese search services in a dispute over censorship.

To read the full Guardian article click here.

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[mask2697]

If your reading this WikiLinks, EVERYONE ALREADY KNEW CHINA WAS HACKING GOOGLE, ITS NOT NEW NEWS

[DeniseHubbard]

I love Wikileaks! They are going to shed light on issues already covered in depth in a recent movie called "Stock Shock-The Short Selling of the American Dream" (www.stockshockmovie.com is the best place to get the dvd if you want to save a buck).

[silvalgal]

So, this Chinese Politburo Nimrod, Li Changchun, Googles himself, hates what he sees and is hellbent on getting rid of Google? Welcome to the 16th century. It's even sadder than our official version. Who said power corrupts?

[fedup12]

China does have the fastest supercomputer in the world now. We better just hold on to our a$$es and wait for China to pass us up in every other field. But human rights.

[rightbehind]

Unbelievable! China hasn't been exactly a human rights kind of country. They don't like what they are reading so they attack it to shut it down. Wikileaks is doing the world a favor and instead of giving them the honor they deserve we have the wrap yourself in a flag and bury your head in the sand quick to call themselves patriots over here.

[infantryman1968]

LOL!

And yet your cool with Obama borrowing money from the Chicoms to finance U.S. debt!

Priceless

[Rodeo_Joe]

The Truth will set you free.

Have any of you shown your children the WikiLeaks video of a US Helicopter shooting innocent children to pieces.

Play it in slow motion. Add your own patiotic music, if you like.

[rightbehind]

I've seen the video. I do agree we should not be in Iraq. As for the video I seen, people were burying something under the road. Not the place to hide a goats head or what ever. I wouldn't want my child to come across whatever they buried. We need to hold our politicians more accountable. We really should be backing wikileaks too keep this world honest. In honor of our Founding Fathers love of the Freedom of the Press we need to remove all government secrets. To let them have any is to risk having someone without our best interest at heart do us harm.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Our Founding Fathers kept state secrets too.

[TheBackDoorman]

The recent report on WikiLeaks is the truth of the matter. Aren't we a country of truth? We've been led to the darkness, not by the terrorist but by a recovering addict. We must change our hunt of terrorist to a wise one. Hunt them as individuals. They are of no army but of singltery people amongst us all. Yet the fools go after them with armies and tanks.

Julian Assange is a brave man standing up against a darkness this is in hiding. He face's the likelyhood of assasination, imprisonment or even the threat of torture. Why? For what? For the truth to be known? For the sake of the press? The internet is our press now. Our Bill of Rights guarantees this the freedom of press. Julian Assange is only reporting new's given to him from a source. If he is denied to publish the truth is there any truth?

WikiLeaks is only reporting the truth of factual evidence of his war crimes along with the lowliness of the one's who supposedly represent our flag. The truth as reported is evidence that needs to be known. These two unnecessary DigiNet Age Vietnam's are costing the lives of ten's and ten's of thousands. Our soldier's are dying killing innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanastan as the real terrorist sit in safty laughing as we destroy and rebuild.

George Bush led us as a recovering addict would in a demented weak minded way and the truth is he shamed our flag with his darkness. We all want the terrorist in chains but not in the evil demented way he chose.

It was reported last week on this site, that the a survey of the Taliban fighters discovered that 90% of the Taliban didn't even no 911 ever happened. Yet Bush idiotically schock and awes them, ransacks everyhome, and even arrest and tortures their children. We we're led by a recovering addict into these war's by his demented lies. That is why the Julian Assange is printing evidence against a evil darkness.

The terrorist live in the darkness, and the recovering addict led us into that darkness. We must turn direction around. Ladin led Bush around like a school master leading a little boy by the ear. We must face the truth no matter how dark it is.

Mr. Assange is a hero, equal to the China man standing fearlessly in front of the oncoming communist tanks in protest of torture the evilness of his communist leader's. Now Mr. Assange is accused of crimes for reporting the truth, standing up against the evilness of men like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and even Ben Ladin and his thugs?

These two DigiNet Age Vietnam's need to end and maybe the truth will lead to their end and the to a just hunt of the Terrorist. Thank you WikiLeaks. Your reporting might help end these two self defeating war's. The truth might save little babies from death of unnecessary bombs, bullets and poisen dropped on them. Not from Hitler, nor from Stalin but from America.

I'm ashamed of what Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield and our Generals have foolishly and un-patrioticly have done, in a way almost as cowerd's. They made the enemy strong and made all of us cower to the people with no shoes. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights torn and walked on. Our freedoms taken, and a new police state in cowerdnice to the people with no shoes.

We're American's. We don't invade. We don't torture. We feed, we cure, we defend, we protect the poor, the people with no shoes, and the hungery and the lost. The truth Mr. Assange has reported is not against our country but for our country.

Julian Assange should be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize. He's standing up for the truth to end these war's and to protect the innocent. His bravery is more American than the evil one's who led us into unnecessary war's that blew up into our country torturing and other evil act's our flag has never flown for.

Thank you Julian Assange. "The truth will set you free", Martin Luther King, 1963

[mask2697]

90% of what you just said, makes no sense at ever, the nobel peace prize isnt awarded for getting people killed and causing tensions over secret information,

also CHina never stood against communist tanks unless there was a drunk chinese guy blocking his own tank, China is censorship central so you dont make sense there,

the Reason the Taliban doesn't Know about 9/11 is because the AL quada did it, also Who surveys the Taliban?