China’s New Cybersecurity Rules May Block Western Innovation

Critics say the laws will stymie U.S. tech giants working inside the country – By Jamie Condliffe China has announced a new set of cyber security rules that could make...

Critics say the laws will stymie U.S. tech giants working inside the country – By Jamie Condliffe

China has announced a new set of cyber security rules that could make it harder than ever for foreign technology companies to operate in the country.

The rules, announced Monday, will provide central Chinese authorities with greater powers over the monitoring of data and hardware. Notably, the laws will open companies up to far greater scrutiny from the government, demanding that Internet firms cooperate with the state’s criminal investigations and provide full access to data if officials suspect them of wrongdoing. The law also demands that companies demonstrate that their systems are capable of withstanding hacks.

Lu Wei, China’s Internet czar (left), speaks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chinese president Xi Jinping at a meeting in 2015.

The new policies, approved by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and expected to enter force in June 2017, are claimed to be an attempt by China to respond to heightened hacking and terror threats from foreign countries. China has claimed in the past that it’s a frequent target of hacks, and that incidence has been rising. According to Reuters, Yang Heqing, a member of the Standing Committee, saidthat “as one of the countries that faces the greatest internet security risks, [China] urgently needs to establish and perfect network security legal systems.”

Not that the country is an innocent bystander. While China may have borne the brunt of many attacks, it has also carried out plenty of its own. And while figures suggest that the number of such attacks may have been falling following an agreement made between President Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to cut the rates of cyber espionage, we recently reported that the attacks may simply be getting better.

Then there’s the impact that the new rules will have on Western companies trying to work in China. James Zimmerman, the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, told Bloomberg that “the Chinese government is right in wanting to ensure the security of digital systems and information here, but this law doesn’t achieve that.” Instead, he warned, it will  “create barriers to trade and innovation.”

Strict regulation is certainly an enemy of technological progress. But tech giants are more likely to be worried about the requirement to open up their data to the authorities. In the past, Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft have all bowed to government pressure in the country, censoring data and sharing it with officials along the way. That met with severe criticism from Congress. In 2010, Google shut down its search efforts in mainland China over censorship and security concerns.

Against the odds, Facebook has so far remained determined to give it a shot in China, even though its site has been blocked since 2009. It remains to be seen if it will be so enthusiastic in the face of the new rules.

(Read more: Reuters, Bloomberg, “Mark Zuckerberg’s Long March to China,” “The Best and Worst Internet Experience in the World,” “The Decline in Chinese Cyberattacks: The Story Behind the Numbers”)

Categories
TechnologyUncategorized

Related By:

  • J3016 gets a needed update

    The engineering group SAE International has updated its Levels of Driving Automation chart with more definitions for the Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous systems, which are in the...
  • Performance “manage” to “value” autonomous scenarios in the eye of customers. Why?

    Measuring is a key part to managing. The famous statement, "if you don't measure, you can't manage"....
  • Xpeng’s NGP User Interviews

    黑人工程师克服挑战直至遇到“干杯和烤鱼” 程雷(Emmanuel)已经来中国5年多了。解决问题,适应环境,他一直乐此不疲。 在此之前,他是某公司的首席信息技术官,喜欢“去做别人都不愿意做的”棘手事情。换工作的时候,华为和IBM都找到了他。但是,程雷想要尝试一个更有开创性的领域,所以他选择了前者。 他说,自己骨子里就喜欢挑战,喜欢逆袭的感觉。来自加纳的程雷,正是依靠着新兴科技适应了中国的一切。 作为一名来自加纳的工程师,程雷觉得,人们经常会因为他是黑人而有误解。有一次他去试驾,销售员一来就给他找说唱嘻哈音乐,令他哭笑不得,“他觉得我会喜欢吧”。 语言不通,程雷却靠着百度翻译在中国生活了那么多年。他经常说,挑战促使他往前走,“正是因为这一切,事情才有趣”。 他一直就是这样,灵活适应着周遭的一切。闲暇时候,他会去游泳、骑车、做设计,弹首曲子或者下个厨房,还会去旅… Read more at: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FXRa0a5YtHxEZUOeN7tyLA...
  • The 2021 Contenders Racing for Consumer-ready L3+ Autonomous Vehicles

    Standby as I compile my first-hand experience of the three top contenders with consumer-ready level 3 autonomous cars....