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In early 2010 a team of Chinese cyber terrorists orchestrated a highly skilled cyber attack, referred to as an APT Attack, on the US. This technical insurgence compromised the secure networks of dozens of top US targets exploiting a security hole in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. What makes this instance unusual was what they were after. The cyber theft didn't prey on the typical targets of credit cards or routing numbers. Something far more devious was afoot. The crooks were snooping around in emails of important political figureheads and human rights activists to try to capture secret business information.

If it's all starting to sound like a modern James Bond movie plot...

Enter Google as 007

Google made a move in China that caught the attention of the entire world recently. And, to a westerner, Google is a likely hero for it. They truly promote the Great Cause of open information, and in many cases have the best tools available to take advantage of that emerging world. They have a bit of history when it comes to Chinese politics and I tip my hat to them for taking the high road on things and changing their policy on censoring Google.cn search results.

"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn," - Posted by David Drummond, SVP, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

007 has all the Hi-Tech Gadgets

They have also delayed the release of their Android Phones but I suspect they won't close the door on such a huge phone market like China if they can avoid it. This open approach makes sense from a business and political stand-point, and is hopefully the right stance for a rapidly globalizing Chinese population. Strategically, Google's toolsets and offerings are of little value without data behind them, and the intellectual value behind China's population is immense, so from a business standpoint, further open access is going to win valuable resources for Google.

The villain in this techno-thriller, of course, is the Chinese government, whom Google has accused of playing a role in the attacks. The Chinese deny any involvement in the crimes and insist this is a corporate espionage affair, despite the Human Rights allegations and China's history of Internet censorship. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been brought in on the matter but ultimately differences in thinking about hacking, corporate espionage and the history of censorship in China is hard to account for as a Westerner.

Cheering for Open Source Thinking

Of course, like always, I am rooting for 007 to get the girl and save the world. To me Google's open information foundation is a concept worthy of the moniker Great Cause. Of course this is not an idea original to Google, but rather an extension of open source thinking (the way we like to think here at HiDef) which you could argue has its roots in free speech itself. With the Internet, these ideas are taking hold quickly. and we are entering a renaissance of open information for which Google has served as a significant catalyst. At some point the Chinese government will have to realize: the Internet genie is out of the bottle, and popular opinion is swinging towards a culture of open source. 007 is honing in on the coordinates.

So in this version of the film at least, the open source geeks from Silicon Valley are able to save the wold from oppressive Chinese government, but does 007 get the ninja hacker? Just like in the movies... probably not. While the plot to take over the world may be temporarily thwarted, the villain got away; stay tuned for the inevitable next film in the series.