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Apparently, the Great Firewall of China — the Chinese government's elaborate system for blocking websites deemed politically incorrect — is only good for censorship, not for boosting the country's network security. Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that the Pentagon traced a June attack on U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's computer back to China's People's Liberation Army Chinese officials denied the report — and they want you to know that they're victims, too.


"China is facing a more severe information-security situation than any Western country," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Wang Xinjun, a researcher at the People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences, as telling China's official Xinhua news agency. Xinjun goes on to say that China is "calling for international cooperation to crack down on Internet-wrecking crime." Oh, we're all for international cooperation — let's hold hands and sing, everyone — but isn't it time for China to admit that it's vaunted firewall is a failure on both technical and human levels?