CNN Website Attacked

In a story on cnn.com the network quoted a CNN spokesperson as saying "CNN took preventative measures to filter traffic in response to attempts to disrupt our Web site. A small percentage of CNN.com users in Asia are impacted". The attack was said to have taken place on Thursday, and administrators took measures to counter the attack and isolate the trouble. The result was a slowdown in service to users in some geographic locations. The spokesperson added "We do not know who is responsible, nor can we confirm where it came from," but the attack comes on the heels of calls for denial of service attacks by hacker groups in China over CNN's coverage of the situation in Tibet. Chinese hacker groups... hmm.

Chinese Internet Users Show Support For Government With Color Campaign

The Globe and Mail is reporting a trend amongst Chinese web surfers. In an act of support for their government which has come under much criticism over it's handling of the uprisings in Tibet, as displayed by the Olympic Tourch Run protests, many Chinese web surfers are adding hearts and “CHINA” to their names when chatting online. In the article "This is aimed at all those forces which want to bring chaos to China," one user who posted a photo of herself dressed in People's Liberation Army fatigues is quoted as saying. I've not encountered it yet but I'm sure it will spread, perhaps there aren't that many Chinese who tweet yet?

China upset by award given to Dalai Lama, hijacks search engine traffic

The CBC has posted speculations that the Chinese government, upset by President Bush's awarding of the Dalai Lama with a Congressional Gold Medal, is hijacking traffic meant for Google and Yahoo and directing it to the Chinese-owned Baidu search engine. The Chinese government routinely censors internet content and blocks web pages but this move is seen as a retaliatory reaction to the US's support for a figure that the Chinese see as a threat. Can't we just all get along and play nice?

Update: InfoWorld is reporting a contrary story saying "Internet users in Beijing and Shanghai said attempts to access Google and other search engines were successful Friday, despite claims on a U.S. blog that traffic to these sites was redirected to Chinese search engine Baidu.com."

cat? mouse?