Getting tough . . .

. . . . but not really.

SHANGHAI – China on Monday heralded a major bust of computer hackers to underscore its pledge to help enhance global online security, with state media saying had shut what they called the country's largest distributor of tools used in malicious Internet attacks.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of making hacking tools available online, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. Their business, known as Black Hawk Safety Net, operated through the now-shuttered Web site www.3800cc.com and generated around $1 million in income from its over 12,000 subscribers, the report said.

Obviously we're meant to think this is in reaction to the uproar over hacking/spying into Google and other U.S. companies. But the arrests were actually made back in November, and it's highly unlikely that these guys - slimers though they may be - had anything to do with them.

The Wall Street Journal story does put it into some perspective here. (You may need a subscription.)