Yeah, We're Doing Really Well

China is hacking our government computers. At least, that is what some lawmakers claim, among them Virginia representative Frank Wolf. Wolf has said that four of his computers have been illegally accessed since 2006, leaving me to ask a few questions:

1) How many computers does one representative need?

2) Why wouldn't Wolf have brought up his concerns after the first or even second computer was compromised?

3) Is Wolf simply technologically incompetent and in killing 3 computers over 2 years decided that instead of 'fessing up to blame the Chinese?

4) Why doesn't the US government just switch over to Macs?

These allegations come amid speculation that Chinese officials copied the information present on a government laptop and was trying to use that information to hack into Commerce Department computers.

The Chinese, of course, deny all allegations of wrong-doing. Apparently, they don't have the technology necessary in order to perpetuate such crimes. Not that they wouldn't; they just haven't progressed that far yet.

Meanwhile, England seems to have decided to take out the middle man by leaving confidential files just laying around. And instead of pulling straight from the plot of the next Coen Brothers film, Burn After Reading, the person (or people) who found the files didn't try to blackmail the government and instead took them to the BBC. The BBC has, after conferring with lawyers, decided not to expose the information that had been clearly marked "For UK/US/Canadian and Australian Eyes Only". Good for them.

This comes after a laptop, containing 600,000 prospective military recruits' religions and banking information, was stolen from a car; and after tax officials lost disks that contained information on half the population of Britain, including their banking records. Back in America, the Pentagon acknowledged last month that its computer network is "scanned or attacked by outsiders more than 300 million times each day".

The whole thing just kind of makes you want to live off the grid, doesn't it?