China and US to co-operate to avoid cyber Cold War

[bemildred]

3. I don't think much of the "cyber threat".

I mean it's real, but it's not a national security issue, in my view, and the means to deal with it are well understood, at least in parts of the technical community. (Although, in view of the Manning case for example, it's also clear that implementation is way behind technical understanding, and back when I was in the business I saw many egregious cases of failure to take proper security measures, usually because of indifference, cost and convenience.)

So I find the fact that we are cooperating with them on this "threat" interesting, because it suggests both sides find it a convenient issue for PR purposes, which I think it is, as things stand, easy to control, little accountability for any wild claims one wishes to make. And that gves rise to the question: what sort of cooperation is being considered?

I like the idea, as you suggest, that both sides are trying to figure out how to deal with the political consequences of the internet, and I think that is where the common interest lies.

Now along that line of thought, it is easy to see both sides using the "threat" as an excuse to attempt to control internet, in much the same way, but with complimentary justifications, them to stop the hackers on our behalf, us to prevent the hackers from hacking us.

I don't see that either they or we are in a position to easily get in a real argument with each other, both much too dependent on each other in myriad ways, but as you mention rationality cannot always be expected from the political classes.

YMMV