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Comment by xnull6guest | Hacker News Reader

I remain convinced that there was some other reason other than cyberforce posturing for the DDOS. Past examples of highly visible international attacks (I'm thinking of SONY here) have been to punish and embarrass companies for being complicit with US foreign propaganda efforts (re leaked Bennett/State Dept./Lynton/RAND emails). I'm not saying the exact same motivation is in play, but as github hosts files - notably code - and many governments have been cracking down on files hosting and shares (like pastebin, etc).

This is speculation, but I prefer the explanation to cyberposturing, since this isn't something China needs to do, and as far as I can tell wouldn't benefit very much from.

The theory is in line with greatfire, as this organization is a "Civil Society Organization" funded ultimately by the US government to spread messages it wants within China. Github is more confusing.

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I am mystified by the puzzlement people have shown over what the CPC's motivation could possibly be. The Xi Jinping administration has been engaged in a ham-handed crackdown on civil society and anyone who engages in political activism or discussion outside the context of the CPC for several years now and that crackdown has recently intensified. VPNs have been disabled, universities have been warned not use Western textbooks or discuss Western ideas, activists and intellectuals have been detained en masse or prevented from returning to the country, etc.

DDoSing foreign websites that are actively attempting to undermine the CPC's censorship and repression campaign is completely in line with the priorities of the CPC's high officials, as well as their general level of subtlety.

Yes. So greatfire, VOA, etc make a lot of sense - but what of Github? I don't believe they are a CSO on their face. I can imagine CSOs using github to host code or information that challenges the country (let's say software to organize demonstrations or circumvent surveillance) - I'm not aware of specifics.

With regard to CSOs and weaponized NGOs - I personally have a sour taste for them (I recognize that they are 'legal', however 'loophole-like').

This is because I am not willing to affirm foreign covert influence on United States/Western and my own opinion. So I usually hardly know whether to cheer or mope in cases where CSOs are challenged.

Huh? The reason for attacking github seems completely obvious, given that the attacked projects were (1) a mirror of the nytimes Chinese edition (explicitly intended to counter Chinese government censorship), and (2) anti-great-firewall-of-China tools...

[Not that they hoped to actually keep github down in the long run, but rather were probably trying to send a message that "hosting info the Chinese government doesn't like will make your life annoying so better not do it"...]

Thank you - this is what I was asking for. :)

(Can you provide the links?)

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