Well, it should be the neologism IMO ;)

If it was a honey-trap op, the girl would have returned the phone later, then asked for a small favour in return for her silence. That small favour would have led to another slightly greater favour, and so on until the aide was completely compromised. A turned insider is much more valuable than an IP address for Downing Street’s server.

No, my money’s on a simple theft of opportunity.

In the UK? I wouldn’t be suprised (at least they seem to occasionally leave them in the tube, or commuter train, etc…)

It’s known that Karl Rove used his (non-government supplied) Blackberry for all sorts of sensitive government work, including information that has been claimed to be covered by Presidential privilege, if not top secret (I haven’t heard one way or the other on that).

This has always amazed me, since I can’t imagine his sweaty, fat fingers being able to operate well on such small keys.

Gonna be a long week, I think.

You got to hand it to this Chinese spook, she did her job well. A true professional.

There’s no chance he just *dropped* it somewhere, is there?

A simple question: What are China’s intentions? The current government, the majority Han, the significant military. I do not think a cold war is needed. I have long averred that simple Malthusian calculation of growth rates, population, rising expectations, environmental limits and actual available resources means China is doomed to implode within a decade. Other nations will encourage this of course, but always with a weather eye to global economic entanglements. Better for the USA to endure a full blown depression than a shooting war involving nukes and other WMD?

Yeah, agree with you, Cowicide. I’m thinking Penis:1, Good sense:0. What else is new.

http://www.military-information-technology.com/article.cfm?DocID=1977

Don’t know if the UK has a similar classy network but I imagine they probably do. Unless they’re incredibly incompetent there shouldn’t be anything beyond secret on the phone. Can’t imagine they’d put TS on there. Although they do drive on the wrong side of the road…..

Though the Chinese gov’t has used honey-traps on Japanese gov’t officials before it’s quite common practice for a “disco” to be populated with multiple “attractive Chinese woman” (read: prostitute) who beyond wanting to provide “services” is also looking to rob you blind. Blackberrys are small and easy steal in that type of situation.

My guess is that is the deal. Happens to tourists all the time and they always act shocked!

More than 100 memory sticks and 650 laptops in four years. BBC article

I always assumed that these documents etc found in backs of cabs, trains and the like, which always make the front page of The Sun, are just handed over to the paper by whistleblowers then the cab story is made up just to cover their tracks?

Hmmm.

If the UK is anything like the US, nothing classified goes on a Blackberry, and it would have been sent the command to remote wipe as soon as it was reported to be in unknown hands.

Then again, they leave stuff on the train in the UK…

*sigh* at the modern media.

The jingoism in just about all the articles I’ve seen on this from UK and US papers is a little scary, too. “growing threat”, “hostile intelligence service”, etc.

For all the Chinese government’s evil ways, we really do not want a new cold war between China and the West.

#13: Takuan, from that article, “Chinese working in America have with growing frequency been expelled from the US for suspected industrial spying.”

The kind of stories I’ve been hearing in academic circles have been that Chinese Ph.D. students studying in the US have been afraid to leave the country at all during their entire 3-5 year degree for fear of arbitrarily being denied re-entry. That means no visits home, no international holidays and no attendance at international conferences.

“Suspicion” and perceived “threats”. Gotta love modern Amerika (and Airstrip One towing the line).