It’s a common theme here at the Baltimore Group, but China is a cheater:

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The FBI and the Pentagon are investigating whether Chinese spies have been hacking into U.S. government computer systems, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Now, to be fair, we are still investigating whether the hackers are actually Chinese, or whether hackers are masking their origins by hacking through Chinese sites. Nevertheless, I have to laugh/cry at the idea of the Chinese government using computers it reverse engineered off American designs to hack into American computers to steal designs and secrets. The amount of espionage that America and China are engaged in must be staggering. It is probably a bit hypocritical to criticize China for actions that America is likely involved in as well–remember the spy plane incident at the beginning of Bush’s term? And what about the plane we filled with bugging devices and then gave to China for government use? What bothers me the most isn’t inter-government spying, which goes way back. It’s the Chinese government condoning and encouraging spying and stealing from private American firms that gets me.

~The Stuffed Tiger