dognovel Chapter 278 The War of Information
Chapter 278 The War of Information
February 20, 1998, 6:15 a.m.
Ling Yun's phone vibrated on the bedside table, its screen emitting a blinding white light in the darkness. He opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling for two seconds, then reached for the phone. It was Ofina.
"Mr. Ling," Ofina's voice came through the receiver, visibly tired, "Our Xingyu is on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal's technology section."
Ling Yun sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. The light was so bright that he squinted.
"What did they talk about?"
"An analysis of the competition between StarTalk and ICQ." Ofina paused, "but the key points are in the last three paragraphs. It quotes an 'unnamed cybersecurity expert' who questions whether a Chinese-backed technology company is suitable for handling the communication data of American users. It implies... StarTalk might be providing backdoors to the Chinese government."
Lingyun got out of bed and stepped barefoot onto the floor.
Send me the original text.
"I've already sent it to your email. Also, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News had similar reports today, from different angles, but the core argument is the same: Chinese-dominated messaging software poses a national security risk," Ofina said. "Furthermore, ICQ started airing TV commercials across the US yesterday, promoting itself as 'American instant messaging.' The commercials are very straightforward: 'Your chat, your privacy, belongs to America.'"
"Is Microsoft going to make any moves?"
"Microsoft's PR department contacted several tech media outlets yesterday, providing 'background information' consisting of an analysis of the legal risks of cross-border data flows," Ofina said. "They didn't directly mention Stargazing, but everyone knows who they're targeting."
"What's the work schedule for today?"
"At 9:00 AM, the final agreement was signed with James Lee, Chief of Staff to State Representative Thompson. At 10:30 AM, we discussed media litigation strategies with the law firm. At 1:00 PM, the Star Language product team reported on their response plan. At 3:00 PM, there was an analyst meeting with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley—they were concerned that public opinion would affect the post-funding valuation. In the evening…" Ofina paused, "At 7:00 PM, ICQ held a product launch event in San Francisco, and Microsoft's Ballmer will be attending and giving a speech."
Within a single day, fire broke out on all fronts simultaneously.
"Okay," Ling Yun said. "I'll be at the company at eight o'clock."
After several days of negotiations and responses, his physical strength was nearing its limit, but he had no time to rest.
At 8:00 AM sharp, he arrived at the Xingchen Technology office building.
The receptionist saw him and immediately stood up: "Good morning, Mr. Ling. Sister Ofina is already in the conference room."
"Thanks."
In the meeting room, Ofina stood in front of the whiteboard, holding a marker. The whiteboard was filled with today's schedule and key tasks, with "urgent" and "high risk" marked in red.
"The Wall Street Journal article is here." Ofina handed over a printout, "Page 3, bottom left corner."
Lingyun took the paper; it still carried the warmth of the printer.
The title is "The Instant Messaging War: ICQ vs. Xingyu, Whose Privacy is More Secure?" The first half of the article is a standard product comparison and market analysis, with detailed data, appearing objective. However, in the last three paragraphs, the tone shifts abruptly:
"However, behind this competition lies a more complex issue: data sovereignty. Xingyu was founded and is controlled by Chinese national Ling Yun. Although the company operates in Silicon Valley, a significant proportion of its technical team consists of Chinese engineers. Under Chinese law, Chinese companies are obligated to cooperate with data retrieval requests from national security agencies. This has raised concerns among US privacy advocates: could the chat logs of US users be accessed by the Chinese government through Xingyu's backdoor technology?"
"A former NSA analyst, who declined to be named, said: 'Any tech company with a presence in China faces this pressure. The difference is that some companies resist, and some cooperate.'"
A spokesperson for Xingyu declined to comment, stating only that "user privacy is the company's highest priority." However, analysts point out that in the absence of a clear legal framework for privacy protection in China, such a commitment lacks legal binding force.
The article has ended. The reporter is Michael Ross, a veteran journalist with twenty years of experience in the tech industry.
"Michael Ross," Ling Yun read the name aloud. "He used to write quite objective articles."
"It's said that Microsoft's PR director was his college classmate," Ofina said. "Moreover, Goldman Sachs found out the 'anonymous analyst' in this article—he was an external consultant hired by Microsoft who just retired from the NSA last year."
"Is there any evidence?"
"There's no direct evidence. But the timeline matches: this person started consulting for Microsoft last month and had dinner with Ross two weeks ago." Ofina pulled up another document. "More importantly, today's San Francisco Chronicle article is even more explicit."
The second article has a more direct title: "Chinese Tech Companies' American Ambitions: Security or Threat?" It cites examples of Chinese companies' acquisitions in the US, implying government support behind these actions. The article concludes by presenting Xingyu as an example of "soft power infiltration."
"This is an organized propaganda campaign," Ofina said. "It's not just the media. Starting yesterday afternoon, a large number of discussion threads about the Star Language 'backdoor' appeared on some technology forums and BBS. The posters were all newly registered accounts, and their posting patterns were similar."
"Internet trolls"
"Yes." Ofina nodded. "And it was very professional. It wasn't just simple insults; it used technical jargon, making it sound like a real engineer discussing security issues. Ordinary users would have a hard time telling the difference."
Ling Yun put down the printed document and walked to the whiteboard. The densely packed writing on the whiteboard looked like a battle map.
"Where's the guy from ICQ?" he asked.
"GG has been playing on CNN, CNBC, MTV, and other channels since yesterday afternoon. The budget is huge, with an estimated daily budget exceeding half a million dollars." Ofina switched the projector and played a 30-second GG video.
The scene begins with a young man typing happily on a computer. A voiceover says, "Your chat, your life, your privacy." The camera then zooms out to reveal a chat window—the Xingyu interface. Suddenly, the window background turns the red of the Chinese flag, and a blurry figure peeks out from behind the screen. The voiceover becomes serious: "But who's watching you?" Finally, the scene switches to the blue ICQ interface, with an American flag sticker appearing in the corner. The voiceover says, "Choose ICQ, your chat belongs to America."
GG is over. The production was rough, but the information was clear.
"Racism coupled with Cold War mentality," Ling Yun said.
"But it's effective." Ofina turned off the projector. "Last night's social media monitoring showed that the hashtag '#AmericanChat' started trending. Many users were retweeting posts that expressed love for the American flag while implying that using foreign software was unpatriotic."
What role did Microsoft play in this process?
"Ballmer will be attending the ICQ launch event tonight, where he's expected to announce deep integration of ICQ with Microsoft products—Outlook email will be directly integrated with ICQ, and Windows systems will optimize ICQ performance." Ofina glanced at her watch. "We have eighteen hours to prepare."
There was a knock on the conference room door. An administrator poked his head in: "Mr. Ling, Mr. James Lee has arrived and is in the small conference room."
"I'll be right there."