Taps Coogan – October 8th, 2020

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About a month ago, it was reported that a Chinese database was leaked to Christopher Balding, a former associate professor at the Fulbright University of Vietnam and a long time China expert. We discussed it first here. The database contained the names, addresses, photographs, political associations, relatives, social media data, news stories, criminal records, and corporate misdemeanors of influential people around the world who were likely the targets of Chinese espionage, influence, and/or manipulation. Some of the data came from open sources but other data was likely the result of illegal espionage: confidential bank records, job applications, and psychological profiles. Among the targets were at least 52,000 Americans, 35,000 Australians, 10,000 Indian, 9,700 British, and 5,000 Canadians, including prominent political figures, judges, organized crime figures, journalists, etc…

Despite its importance, the revelation has received virtually no mainstream media coverage in the US. Nonetheless, Christopher Balding recently spoke with China Uncensored about the database, the security risk of Chinese apps and phones like TikTok and Huawei, and need for greater data privacy in the US and other democratic states. Although, at times, it’s not as serious of a discussion as the topic warrants, enjoy it below:

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