Computing and Politics

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Apr 04, 2004 at 11:23:33PM -0500, Jim W Lai wrote

> The points regarding China still remain valid IMO.  They're not
> into open source for altruistic reasons.  They seek to containing
> outflows of capital, and relying on open and homegrown IP is part
> of that effort.

  There's an article at the Washington Post website...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10432-2004Feb26.html

  Executive summary, CIA finds out that Russia is trying to steal
pipeline-control software.  CIA "allows" Russia to steal a copy, a
trojaned copy at that...

> "In order to disrupt the Soviet gas supply, its hard currency earnings
> from the West, and the internal Russian economy, the pipeline software
> that was to run the pumps, turbines, and valves was programmed to
> go haywire, after a decent interval, to reset pump speeds and valve
> settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to pipeline
> joints and welds," Reed writes.
> 
> "The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire
> ever seen from space," he recalls, adding that U.S. satellites
> picked up the explosion. Reed said in an interview that the blast
> occurred in the summer of 1982.

  OK, imagine you're the Chinese leadership.  Do you *REALLY* want your
economy/infrastructure to depend on Windows from the USA ???

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
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