Wikileaks links China to hacking of Google

China's ruling Politburo ordered the hacking of Google's computer systems in that country, according to secret U.S. embassy cables made public by Wikileaks today. The American Embassy in Beijing received information in January about a widespread campaign of computer hacking directed by the Chinese government that targeted Google and other American businesses, the U.S. and other governments, according to the leaked cables. Google ultimately left China as a result of the hacking.

Details of the leaked documents are revealed in a New York Times report. The role of the Chinese government in the Google hacking is discussed in the video above by Joseph Menn, a reporter for the Financial Times and the author of Fatal System Error, a book about the hacker underground.