[digg=http://digg.com/olympics/Expert_finds_proof_Chinese_gymnast_underage]

This is a fascinating peek into how people can dig up stuff on the Internet. A computer security expert at Stryde Hax decided to see if he could track down any official Chinese records about the birth date of one of those allegedly underage female gymnasts, He Kexin.

It certainly helps that he works in computer security and knows his way around Mandarin to boot. Me, I go all cross-eyed when those Kanji characters pop up. It’s enough for me to look at what he’s posted and marvel that he was able to find it, even if I do have to take his word for what it says.

I’m not of a mind to set up a mirror site to preserve the images he has found, but he is encouraging people to do that. Interesting that he has only the one post on his blog. But if he spends all his time digging up info like this, he probably doesn’t have time to maintain a blog.

Note I’m not calling Stryde a hacker. To me that means someone who circumvents or breaks through security measures to get into private files. These records were posted on Baidu, the Chinese equivalent of Google and other search engines. Knowing how to locate public records on the Internet doesn’t make you a hacker, IMHO.

Oh, why not? Here are more screenshots of the incriminating pages, just to preserve them:

Shot here: http://cache.baidu.com/c?m=9f65cb4a8c8507ed4fece763105392230e54f7227e8a905368d4e41dce204c413037bfa673794e5392d8242140b20a17a2a17d247c1e68e6dd999f4aaaf1cc693bcd7a742613913161c468d8dc4755d650e44d98a40e91b8e74391b9d2a2dc5f58cc&p=882a97128c805ffc57ecd3214f&user=baidu

Shot here: http://cache.baidu.com/c?m=9d78d513d9d431dc4f9ce3690c66c0166d43f1682ba1d2020ed68448e267504a4172a4fb792d4a4295876b6672b25419afb52172404262eadb8e9f4aaaeecf6c388850652c01d21a4c8458b2930064dc60c70fe9ad1be3a7b863d5ffc5d3a81e0d8b&p=8b2a941786cc43f113fecb3146&user=baidu

If the links no longer work … draw your own conclusions.

(My shots included weather page to confirm date and time. That was the intent, anyway.)

Update here.

Update, 8/21/08: A Gold Medal to Mike Walker (Stryde Hax)! I just heard that the IOC is launching a further investigation into Chinese claims that gymnast He Kexin is old enough to be competing in the Games. Mike’s discovery and reports were cited as part of the the reason for the IOC action.

 

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