Google, Wikileaks and an anonymous U.S. Embassy “contact”

The latest Wikileaks data dump of confidential cables from U.S. embassies and consulates has so far produced one China story that is being widely circulated:

China’s Politburo directed the intrusion into Google’s computer systems in that country, a Chinese contact told the American Embassy in Beijing in January, one cable reported. The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, cables said.

Unfortunately, the cables do not yet seem to be available to the public on Wikileaks’ website, nor on the websites of media organizations like the Guardian and New York Times that have worked with Wikileaks to publicize and analyze the leaks.

However, judging from the reports about the leaks, the information about the Google hacking comes from an anonymous U.S. Embassy “contact”. It is impossible to judge how reliable such a contact might be without any further information.