This latest report, Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries, from the NYT, provides an update on the progress of the next world war: a war that will focus on information.
Note that the information targeted includes email communications: the researchers documented systematic searching and pilfering of email contents. Note that the use of the stolen communications are applied to counteract other information or shape decision-making of allies or enemies.
Consider this:
“… after an e-mail invitation was sent by the Dalai Lama’s office to a foreign diplomat, the Chinese government made a call to the diplomat discouraging a visit. And a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens was stopped by Chinese intelligence officers on her way back to Tibet, shown transcripts of her online conversations and warned to stop her political activities.” [NYT, same article noted above]
It is interesting to see that the reporter and several persons quoted in the article, noting that this particular operation apparently originated in China, “cautioned against concluding that China’s government was involved.”
Who is kidding whom, here?
