From: bluesky@rcia.com
Originally From: "Thomas E. Kaiser" <tkaiser@pipeline.com>
http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=24328
Posted: 10:00am Tuesday, August 11, 1998
It's payback time, say Mainland hackers
By Sumner Lemon
A group of hackers calling themselves the Yellow Pages is set to target
U.S. companies doing business in China in a bid to raise the profile of
human rights in China, Computerworld Hong Kong has learned.
The Yellow Pages believe that U.S. companies doing business in China
should bear partial responsibility for human rights abuses on the
Mainland, according to Blondie Wong, director of the Hong Kong Blondes, a
Mainland-based group of hackers that has campaigned for improved human
rights in China.
"One of the reasons that human rights in China are not further ahead is
because they have been de-linked from American trade policy," Wong said.
Wong's comments were made in a document released through Cult of the Dead
Cow (CDC), a U.S.-based hacker group which has advised the Blondes on
technical issues.
"When human rights considerations were associated with doing business with
the United States, at least there was the threat of losing trade
relations, of some form of punishment. Now this just doesn't exist.
Beijing successfully went around Congress and straight to American
business, so in effect, businessmen started dictating foreign policy,"
Wong explained.
"By taking the side of profit over conscience, business has set our
struggle back so far that they have become our oppressors too," Wong said.
The Yellow Pages would initially seek to name and expose companies it
believes have put commercial interests ahead of human rights, Wong said.
However, the Yellow Pages could also do "worse" things to these
companies, he added.
Fighting the good fight
While some observers may question the validity of hackers targeting
companies to advance human rights concerns in China, the Yellow Pages
maintain they are justified in their belief that corporations must
shoulder some blame for the state of human rights in the PRC, Wong said.
"Human rights is an international issue, so I don't have a problem with
businesses that profit from our suffering paying part of the bill. Perhaps
then they will see the wisdom of putting some conditions on trade," Wong
said.
In addition, the Yellow Pages' strategy will help to focus attention on
the issue of human rights in China, said Oxblood Ruffin, a Canada-based
CDC member who acts as a strategic advisor to the Blondes.
"[U.S. diplomat] George Kennan once remarked that the smallest amount of
progress in international relations was significant even though it might
not seem like much on the surface. In the same way, I think that something
will come out of this venture because it's just wacky enough to grab
people's attention. I mean, who would put hacking corporate networks
together with human rights in China? It's pretty stretched out, but it
makes perfect sense to me," said Ruffin.
"We have to help with the strategy [of targeting U.S. companies doing
business in China] because it sure as hell isn't coming from the political
classes. Look at Bill Clinton. He makes his nice feel-good trip to China
and comes back gushing about one day there'll be democracy in China. The
guy's an idiot," he added.
A new breed of hacker
While hackers have not typically been perceived by observers as a force
for political change, Wong noted an increase in the number of hackers,
such as the Yellow Pages, that are motivated by political issues.
"There has been a shift in consciousness, I believe," Wong said. "Younger
people have a great deal of talent although they can be very awkward. But
the point is, I think they are different from the generation of hackers
before them."
The new generation of hacker has a desire to use their skills to make the
world a better place, Wong explained. "They want the recognition and
attention, but they also want to do something to contribute to change
things in a positive way. In general, I think what they are doing will
grow and turn into something that makes a difference," he said.
Hacker response to recent nuclear tests in India and Pakistan is a good
example of how political motivation has become more important for this new
generation of hackers, Wong said.
In May, hackers reportedly broke into India's Badha Atomic Research Center
(BARC) and copied several megabytes of data and e-mail related to India's
nuclear weapons testing program. The hackers also reportedly defaced
BARC's Web site with messages protesting against India' s nuclear weapons
development program.
Ultimately, this type of attack is useful because it helps to raise the
profile of nuclear weapons in the public consciousness, Wong said.
"Somehow people think that the bombs have disappeared because we don't
read about them in the papers like we used to. At any rate, I view the
BARC intrusion as something positive because it will draw attention to the
situation and cause more discussion about a serious issue," Wong said.
SIDEBAR: Beyond the long arm of the law
By Sumner Lemon
In an interview released through U.S.-based hacker group Cult of the Dead
Cow, Blondie Wong, director of the China-based hacker group Hong Kong
Blondes, said the Mainland government is searching for him and he is
forced to travel with an armed guard for security reasons.
Concern for Wong's safety may be a result of the Blondes ongoing hacking
activities in China. Last year, for example, the Blondes were rumored to
have hacked a communications satellite belonging to the People' s
Liberation Army.
"My opponents would be very happy to put a bullet in the back of my head,"
Wong said. The guards are provided for Wong under the terms of an "
arrangement" with an unspecified third party he described as "a group of
people who are even more outside of the law than we are."
Besides providing armed guards, Wong said that he also relies on the same
group of individuals to help people enter and leave the Mainland. The
group has already helped one member of the Blondes, Lemon Li, to leave
China after she was questioned by authorities in Beijing. Li is currently
residing in Paris where she continues to coordinate much of the work being
done by the Blondes, Wong said.
Criminal involvement in smuggling dissidents out of China is nothing new.
Hong Kong-based triads have been reported to have played an important role
in Operation Yellowbird, an underground railroad set up to smuggle
dissidents out of China in the aftermath of the June 4, 1989, massacre in
Beijing.
-o-
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Received on Tue Aug 18 08:52:48 1998