Boeing's snooping on workers might have a Chinese accent

Today's Post-Intelligencer has a fascinating story about the way Boeing allegedly spies on employees, reading private e-mails, tailing them, and monitoring keystrokes. The story is framed with concerns about privacy or tracking down employees who might be whistle blowers who talk to the media. It's an important story, with a wholly legitimate concern about privacy and workers' rights. But I wonder if the untold part of the story is another topic that Boeing would not want to talk about: Chinese espionage. Canada has recently raised the issue, citing suspected espionage about the way China may have been snooping on the maker of the Blackberry, in order to introduce its copycat Redberry. Just yesterday, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its annual report to Congress that Chinese spying was a great threat to U.S. technology. The panel recommended counterintelligence efforts. The issue may find its way into the presidential campaigns, as well as discussions about how the U.S. Attorney's offices have been spending their time. China denies any spying, but the American government contends that there is a broad effort by China to get new technology without spending money on research. Seattle, with its strong concentration of technology companies and defense concerns, is thought to be particularly crawling with spies. If so, Boeing is probably under pressure from the government to root them out. But it would be reluctant to say so, given what a big customer China is for jets.