A big day for people named Clinton yesterday. President Bill gave a pretty big speech at the DNC in Charlotte, meanwhile Secretary of State Hillary was in China attempting to forge a rather bold new initiative: cooperation on cybersecurity.
Hillicon Valley quotes her:
“Both the United States and China are victims of cyber attacks. Intellectual property, commercial data, national security information is being targeted,” Clinton said in remarks at the press conference. “This is an issue of increasing concern to the business community and the government of the United States, as well as many other countries, and it is vital that we work together to curb this behavior.”
There’s a lot going on here, obviously. It’s logical for two superpowers to work together on a big effort. China, however, has been the source of a lot of cyberattacks within the United States and it’s often unclear whether the attacks are coming from private citizens, the Chinese government, or some combinations of the two. Then there’s the fact that China strenuously censors the internet within its borders.
It might also just be a diplomatic charade: two countries playing nice discussing something that will never come to fruition in a meaningful way.
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