Random Search Stops $600 Million In Trade Secrets Bound For

Random Search Stops $600 Million In Trade Secrets Bound For China

The feds have indicated a software engineer who was flying to China with confidential technical documents, a thumb drive, four external hard drives, 29 recordable compact discs, and a videotape.

By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
April 3, 2008
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207001607

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dynamik

What's with the Chinese lately?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/02/AR2008040203952_pf.html
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20080217.aspx

cisco_trooper

China is a country that poses one of the biggest threats to the US in more ways than one. They have a very large economy that is expanding. They are beginning to utilize motor vehicles more which is part of the cause of the increased demand on oil. They have a million man standing army. And so on and so forth. They are on their way to becoming a major world power, if they get riled up we could have a HUGE problem on our hands. You think the war in Iraq is bad. Wait until the Chinese decide to take execute a hostile takeover of the entire middle east.

Just sayin'.

darkuser

this company is famous for reverse engineering cisco products

http://www.huawei.com/

blargoe

Are they the ones that make the "Cisro" routers?

HeroPsycho

cisco_trooper wrote:

China is a country that poses one of the biggest threats to the US in more ways than one. They have a very large economy that is expanding. They are beginning to utilize motor vehicles more which is part of the cause of the increased demand on oil. They have a million man standing army. And so on and so forth. They are on their way to becoming a major world power, if they get riled up we could have a HUGE problem on our hands. You think the war in Iraq is bad. Wait until the Chinese decide to take execute a hostile takeover of the entire middle east.

Just sayin'.

They're not gonna take over the middle east with military force. However, Chinese banks with large holdings may very well be utilized to exert a hostile economic take over.

The more likely scenario of Chinese use of military force to take over a geographic area vital to US interests is attacking Taiwan. China has never backed off from its "One China" view since Chinese Nationalists fled to Taiwan after the communist takeover, and they every so often fire a rocket or something over Taiwan in a "test" just to scare the ever loving crap out of Taiwan. The only reason Taiwan exists independent of China today is a large American navy sitting between China and Taiwan.

Did I mention I was a history teacher with a master's degree in history and a minor in international studies?

Sepiraph

cisco_trooper wrote:

China is a country that poses one of the biggest threats to the US in more ways than one. They have a very large economy that is expanding. They are beginning to utilize motor vehicles more which is part of the cause of the increased demand on oil. They have a million man standing army. And so on and so forth. They are on their way to becoming a major world power, if they get riled up we could have a HUGE problem on our hands. You think the war in Iraq is bad. Wait until the Chinese decide to take execute a hostile takeover of the entire middle east.

Just sayin'.

It is extremely unlikely that China would try to execute a Iraq-style type of operation, even if they are to become the #1 world power economically and in military strength in the future. In order to appreciate this statement, you have to look back at Chinese history and understand the Chinese mentality. Even when they were among the world's most powerful country in the past, they were never particularly interested in colonialism as the European counterparts. In fact, they are far more content to build up a wall to exclude the foreigners. You see the same mentality at work today with their Golden Shield (their firewall of the internet).

While obviously U.S. would want to remain as the world #1 power, the more alarming fact about China is that its government is still not a democracy, but ultimately that's something that the Chinese citizens have to decide for themselves. More generally, it is something that people everywhere have to be aware of the peril of letting government taking away its people's freedom.

p.s. Why are people still so stuck up on nationalistic and ethnic boundary? That's something that I always find to be gullible, coming from someone with a libertarianism and individualism's ideal. People are just people, I can envision a far future where the concept of nations and ethnicity will cease to be meaningful.

p.s. II It is kind of pathetic that the spy doesn't even encrypt trade secret. Run a AES-Twofish-Serpent with a hidden volume and there is no way a random search would ever find anything. Also I guess they never heard of the Internet, where I heard you can send data over some tubes.

cisco_trooper

Yeah, I don't claim to know how their government works, but like you said they aren't a democracy, which is precisely what scares the hell out of me. I don't know what it takes for a new leader to come to power in China, but all it would take is a radical leader for the Chinese mindset to change and become hostile....that is what is scary. Not saying it will happen, but it is a possibility that always plagues the back of my mind.

I agree with your other points. This world is becoming more and more global in the way it operates. I wonder how long it will be before we come together as one and realize a truly efficent existence.

I also wonder how long it will be before WWIII is fought for oil and brings the world to its knees.

milliamp

cisco_trooper wrote:

Yeah, I don't claim to know how their government works, but like you said they aren't a democracy, which is precisely what scares the hell out of me.

Well we (the US) are a democracy and I am pretty sure more people would say our foreign policies are more likely to scare people than China's.

Besides, being elected president in the US requires:
1. Hundreds of millions of dollars
2. Membership to one of 2 political parties
3. In more cases than not, being in the pocket of a handful of special interest groups.

Their is also a fair amount of evidence that CNN and the MSM mishandled and misled in their coverage of several important political events.

I really wish someone would do a decent documentary about our broken election process in the US.

cisco_trooper

I would 2nd that notion in a heartbeat. It's one big marketing campaign and just like some grocery store product, you may or may not get what you were sold. It's all BS.

Mishra

Interesting numbers

Global projections

Against that backdrop, the IMF now expects the world economy, which grew by a hardy 4.9% last year, to lose considerable momentum. The fund is projecting the global economy to grow by 3.7% this year and 3.8% next year.

"The global expansion is losing speed in the face of a major financial crisis," the IMF said.

There's a risk that things could turn worse, it cautioned.

"The IMF now sees a 25% chance that global growth will drop to 3% or less in 2008 and 2009 - equivalent to a global recession," the fund said. "The greatest risk comes from the still-unfolding events in financial markets, particularly the potential for deep losses" on complex investments linked to the U.S. subprime mortgage market, the IMF said.

Looking at other countries, the IMF trimmed its projection for Germany, with economic growth slowing to 1.4% this year and weakening to 1% in 2009. In Britain, growth will slow to 1.6% this year and next. France also will see growth decelerate to 1.4% this year and 1.2% next year.

Japan's economy will expand by 1.4% this year and 1.5% next year, which would mark a loss of momentum from last year. Canada's growth would slow to 1.3% this year and pick up slightly to 1.9% next year.

Global powerhouse China, which barreled ahead at an 11.4% pace last year, would see growth moderate to 9.3% this year and then strengthen a bit to 9.5% next year. India, which grew by a blistering 9.2% last year, is expected to grow by 7.9% this year and 8% next year. Russia, which logged growth of 8.1% last year, will see growth moderate to 6.8% this year and then 6.3% next year.

While the IMF is worried about the dangers of weakening global economic growth, it also expressed concern about the potential for inflation to heat up around the world, given sharp increases in energy and other commodity prices. "Risks related to inflationary pressures have risen," the fund said.

supercooldude

milliamp wrote:

I really wish someone would do a decent documentary about our broken election process in the US.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for... but here ya go. Hacking Democracy

cisco_trooper

Nice info. Where did you pull that from? I'd like to read more...

Mishra

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/international/world_economy.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

Jammywanks

cisco_trooper wrote:

I also wonder how long it will be before WWIII is fought for oil and brings the world to its knees.

Pretty fukin' soon if things don't get better. And as it seems with the Bush administration its not going to.

The whole world is setup for something big. International relationships with big countries like Russia, China vs. the US, Europe aren't implying any friendships in the near future....