China Offers To "Severely Punish" Google Attackers

Tony Romm reports on "Hillicon Valley" that the Chinese government is eager to receive Google's evidence so it can go after the hackers.

"If Google has had evidence that the attacks came from China, the Chinese government will welcome them to provide the information and will severely punish the offenders according to the law," Miao Wei, China's vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, told state-run news media this weekend.

That's a clever tactic. When the Chinese authorities say "severely punish" you can bet that they mean it.

So, will Google finger the suspects knowing that they could be putting people in harm's way? What if it's a few script kiddies? Would the punishment fit the crime? In China it might not.

That's a clever tactic because Google will probably think thrice before handing over information to the Chinese authorities.