Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Patriotic hacking of the Australian filmsite - Jeremy Goldkorn

China’s Public Enemy Number One - Rebiya KadeerRebiya Kadeer by Yves. via Flickr
Chinese hackers attacked an Australian film site after a brawl emerged over the showing of a movie on Uigur celebrity Rebiya Kadeer and Western media - with few exceptions - were sure the Chinese government was behind this. Danwei's Jeremy Goldkorn explains why genuine patriotic feelings in China are behind this. "We are all Melburians", became a battle cry against the cyber attack.
In The Guardian Goldkorn explains what the hacker involved told him and what most Western media are missing:
The hacker who vandalised the Melbourne Film Festival website shows an attitude typical of China's urban youth. I tracked him down (not hard – his net handle "laojun" is the same as the name he left on the hacked website) and asked him why he hacked the site and if the government has anything to do with it.
Laojun said that it's "completely normal for a Chinese person to have a patriotic heart" and that the government had absolutely nothing to do with his actions: "On the contrary, I am worried the government will punish me for this." He also noted that he has received many messages of support from fellow Chinese internet users who have added him to their instant messaging contact list or written supportive messages on various internet forums that have discussed the hack.
China's internet users have been supporting the cyber attack, he explains.While many of them do not approve of China's government trying to censor the internet, they find ways around the censorship and actually suspect the government might have good arguments. Jeremy Goldkorn:
You may disagree with Laojun's views on Xinjiang or censorship. You may blame his thinking and the support of his fans on state propaganda or the educational system. But a large – I would daresay majority – of the population of China do not feel that they are Melbournian at all but red-blooded, patriotic Chinese people.

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Goldkorn_for_screenJeremy Goldkorn by Fantake via Flickr
Jeremy Goldkorn is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. You want to discuss his 
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

To Jeremy Goldkorn,

You mean we should encourage vandalism JUST because these are Chinese youth? What a strange defense.

OR is the Chinese youth want to show the world they are excellent hackers?? And it is the right way to show they are brats???

Instead of defending bad behaviours perhaps Jeremy Goldkorn should start beating some senses into their brains of the dos and don'ts of the human race?

On a different notes. I always view governing-body, hence politicians, as parents. The politicians are there to lead and show their citizens how to behave like decent human beings. Perhaps it would be more beneficial for everyone is to have Jeremy tell us IF there is any link between the overall behaviour of the Chinese government and the hacking of the website?? Something to ponder isn't it??

Chinese has a saying (loosely translated): those on the top is NOT Straight, those below would be crooked. Another thing to ponder.

Cindy

China Herald said...

My take is that it is not so much a defense as well a long-overdue explanation