Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks

Well, duh. We point spy satellites everywhere as well, for exactly the same reasons (and I'm pretty sure that a) nobody's going to quit using Google Earth and b) the government pays attention to what people chatter about in the GE forums and so on because some of that has intelligence value). All significant military powers maintain lists of strategic targets in other countries as a matter of course.

Next you'll be telling me that military compiles detailed maps of foreign nations for potential distribution to troops, and that we have spies on our payroll.

There is one very efficient way to thwart these big data collection attempts: build fake profiles and build fake networks. If everyone would use a little of his or her time to do this, it would be extremely difficult to find the real address or security number or phone number of a person.

I foresee quite some opportunities for startups who would automate this. In this case not for "evil" purposes such as fake product reviews, or spam, but for - I would say - this ethically acceptable purpose of making it a tad harder to mine your personal information online.

Anyone else thinking this could be a coordinated effort by Chinese intelligence to discredit the USA?

Not passing judgement, but as a outsider this looks like a full fledged cold war.

Again, not surprising, since other countries are actively engaged against us in the same manner.