Reading Google's latest post re China's recent hacking attempts at their network and others, it's hard not to notice a tinge of, well, anger. I mean, let's face it. You try to do your business honestly, abide by their rules, then they hack you? As the fellas in Sopranos would say, 'where's the respect?'

To recap for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet, Google is accusing, not just assuming, mind you, but flat out accusing China of hacking the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists based not only in China but in the U.S. and Europe as well.

The techniques used were "most likely phishing scams or malware", indicating the hackers did not directly access Gmail's servers but used the age - old technique of taking advantage of the user's lack of knowledge re securing data. While most of us manage to regularly avoid scams and viruses and therefore survive life on the 'net, a concentrated attack like what Google is referring to can certainly succeed even against the most security conscious amongst us.

So here's a bunch of other thoughts that came about after reading it.

I'm sure catching China's hacking attempts shook things up at Google. This sort of thing should really make them think about what they're doing there in the first place. Heck, not only that, it's a callout to why they even started their business to begin with.

Google during its entrepreneurial years defined itself as a champion of the common man, a company that cares about neutrality, openness and sharing on the Internet, the very things that China frowns upon.

The question is, how much of Google is still that risk - taking rule breaker we saw in the early part of the decade and will they actually take steps to help these people whose human rights are clearly being undermined. Google after so many years has become just another large corporation, or so I've heard. But something like this has got to stir them up.

This also sends a strong message to all the other entities yearning for a piece of the enormous Chinese market. While tempting, the Chinese government clearly doesn't care about the same things the West does, and looks out for one thing and one thing only - its own ideals. Time and time again from what I've read about the Chinese government in books and magazines, that very fact is what has confounded the West over and over. China has the ability to say one thing and do another, their unyielding loyalty to their own goals is paramount, as evidenced by how they treat local naysayers and certainly with respect to foreigners. While Google's experience is newsworthy, it certainly wouldn't be the last time.

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