China passes 'draconian' cyber security law: Controversial bill is criticised for violating freedom

[Abba_Dabba_Jabba]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...a-passes-controversial-cybersecurity-law.html

China has today passed a controversial cybersecurity bill, tightening restrictions on online freedom of speech.

The bill also imposes new rules on online service providers, raising concerns it is further cloistering its heavily controlled internet.

The legislation, passed by China's largely rubber-stamp parliament and set to take effect in June 2017, is an 'objective need' of China as a major internet power, a parliament official said.

Amnesty International, however, said it was 'draconian' measure that violates people's rights to freedom of expression and privacy.

China's new cybersecurity law requires companies to verify a user's identity, effectively making it illegal to go online anonymously

WHAT DOES THE BILL MEAN?
The law is largely focused on protecting the country's networks and private user information.

But it also bans internet users from publishing a wide variety of information, including anything that damages 'national honour', 'disturbs economic or social order' or is aimed at 'overthrowing the socialist system'.

A provision requiring companies to verify a user's identity effectively makes it illegal to go online anonymously.

Companies providing online services in the country must provide 'technical support and help' to public security organs investigating 'crimes', which would normally include those related to speech.

The ruling Communist Party oversees a vast censorship system, dubbed the Great Firewall, that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out internet content and commentary on topics considered sensitive, such as Beijing's human rights record and criticism of the government.

It has aggressively blocked major companies such as Google and Facebook from offering their services in its domestic cyber space.

The law, which was approved by the National People's Congress Standing Committee, is largely focused on protecting the country's networks and private user information.

But it also bans internet users from publishing a wide variety of information, including anything that damages 'national honour', 'disturbs economic or social order' or is aimed at 'overthrowing the socialist system'.

A provision requiring companies to verify a user's identity effectively makes it illegal to go online anonymously.

Companies providing online services in the country must provide 'technical support and help' to public security organs investigating 'crimes', which would normally include those related to speech.

The legislation drew a wave of criticism from rights groups and foreign business organisations, who said its vague language and overreaching security requirements would restrict freedom of speech and throw up barriers to global companies hoping to serve China's enormous market of more than 710 million internet users.

'This dangerous law commandeers internet companies to be de facto agents of the state, by requiring them to censor and provide personal data to the authorities at a whim,' said Patrick Poon, China researcher at global rights group Amnesty International.

James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said the law risks China 'becoming isolated technologically from the rest of the world'.

China's ruling Communist Party oversees a vast censorship system, dubbed the Great Firewall, that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out Internet content and commentary on topics it considers sensitive

'Requirements for national security reviews and data sharing will unnecessarily weaken security and potentially expose personal information,' he wrote in a statement, adding that overall the new law 'creates barriers to trade and innovation'.

Concerns about the legislation were overblown, Zhao Zeliang, the director of China's Cyberspace Administration, told reporters.

The law is not intended 'to limit foreign technology or products or to put up trade barriers', he said.

'A few foreign friends, they equate 'security controls, voluntary controls, security trustworthiness' with trade protectionism,' he said, adding 'that's a type of misunderstanding. A type of prejudice.'

China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said there were 'no significant differences' between the new Chinese laws and laws of other countries', adding the law had involved a lengthy public comment period, making it 'more transparent than other governments in this regard'.

The European Chamber of Commerce disagreed, saying in a statement the 'overall lack of transparency over the last year surrounding this significant and wide-reaching piece of legislation has created a great deal of uncertainty and negativity in the business environment'.

Amnesty's Poon said the law 'goes further than ever before in codifying abusive practices, with a near-total disregard for the rights to freedom of expression and privacy.'

INTERNET CENSORSHIP AROUND THE WORLD
The internet has revolutionised communication and promotes free speech across the globe. Consequently, online freedom is a hot topic.

Some governments consider the internet to be dangerous and inflammatory so they regulate it.

A firm called IVPN recently created a map of internet freedom around the world based on a Freedom House report in 2013.

In the report, countries were reviewed on limits placed on online content, obstacles to Internet access, and violations of user rights.

They were then graded as free, partly free or not free and marked on a map in white, pink and red respectively.

Countries marked in grey were not included in the report.

China, Iran and Syria were found to be the top three user rights violators when it comes to online freedom.

A firm called IVPN has previously created a map of internet freedom around the world (pictured) based on a Freedom House report in 2013. Regions marked in white have the freedom to roam, as opposed to those marked in red

Chinese authorities have long reserved the right to control and censor online content.

The country stepped up controls in 2013, launching a wide-ranging internet crackdown.

Hundreds of Chinese bloggers and journalists were detained as part of the campaign, which has seen influential critics of Beijing paraded on state television.

Under regulations announced at the time, Chinese internet users face three years in prison for writing defamatory messages that are re-posted 500 times or more.

They can also be jailed if offending posts are viewed more than 5,000 times.

Comments posted on social media have been used in the prosecution of various activists, such as human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang.

'If online speech and privacy are a bellwether of Beijing's attitude toward peaceful criticism, everyone -– including netizens in China and major international corporations -– is now at risk,' said Sophie Richardson, China Director of Human Rights Watch.


NOTE : Article written in Western media, take it with pinch of salt.

 

[maximuswarrior]

Their country their rules.

 

[Hurshid Celebi]

Updated Nov. 7, 2016 3:38 a.m. ET

BEIJING—China’s government has approved a broad new cybersecurity law aimed at tightening and centralizing state control over information flows and technology equipment, raising concerns among foreign companies operating in the country.

The law, passed by the standing committee of China’s rubber-stamp parliament and made public on Monday, says agencies and enterprises must improve their ability to defend against network intrusions while demanding security reviews for equipment and data in strategic sectors. The law also makes censorship a matter of cybersecurity, threatening to punish companies that allow unapproved information to circulate online.

It further requires network operators to provide “technical support” to authorities for national security and criminal investigations.

The law drew criticism from foreign business groups due to the expansive list of sectors that are defined as part of China’s “critical information infrastructure,” making sectors including telecommunications, energy, transportation, information services and finance subject to security checks. China’s lawmakers described the law as necessary to bolster its data security at a time of multiplying threats.A spokesman for the Cybersecurity Administration of China at a press conference Monday dismissed concerns among foreign companies that Chinese demands for “secure and reliable” or “secure and controllable” technologies could exclude their products.

“Whenever we bring up secure and reliable…some of our friends, especially our foreign friends, their heads swell up. They see it as synonymous with trade barriers,” said Zhao Zeliang, the CAC spokesman. “This is a misunderstanding, a biased view.”

China, often accused of supporting cyberattacks on other countries while also depicting itself as a frequent victim of hacking, has moved aggressively to bolster cybersecurity since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power four years ago. Efforts accelerated in 2013, when former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden described extensive U.S. government hacking of Chinese networks. The government was rattled again the following year, when Microsoft Corp. decided to end support for Windows XP, aging software that was widely installed in China.


“These issues confronted China quite violently with the reality that they were reliant on foreign technology,” said Rogier Creemers, an expert in Chinese internet and media law at the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands.

The security reviews stipulated in the new law revive concerns among U.S. companies that they will be forced to disclose their source code and other corporate secrets to the Chinese government to prove their equipment is secure, said Jake Parker, vice president of China operations for the U.S.-China Business Council, a trade group representing U.S. companies in China.

“We’ve heard from companies that they feel these policies cite national security for protectionist purposes,” Mr. Parker said.

The cybersecurity law doesn’t specify what the security reviews will entail. The idea of requiring source-code disclosure was floated in drafts of several Chinese regulations last year, then was removed after strenuous protest from the U.S. and other countries.

‘We’ve heard from companies that they feel these policies cite national security for protectionist purposes’

—Jake Parker
Jared Ragland, the senior director of policy for Asia at trade group BSA (also known as the Software Alliance), said the requirement for firms involved in critical infrastructure to store their data in China could have a major impact on foreign companies. Those firms wouldn’t be able to move the data overseas without applying to the government for permission.

Mr. Ragland said some companies would need to change their business model to keep operating in China, while others would face higher costs.

Foreign business groups said the vague wording of the law made it unclear which companies would be required to store data in China or submit their technology to security reviews. Some foreign companies, including Apple Inc., already store some local user data on servers located inside China.

Many provisions of the law codify existing practices, including that the government can restrict internet access “in certain regions” in the event of an emergency and that network operators should demand users register with their real names.

Other provisions in the law promote the training of cybersecurity experts, restrict the use of individuals’ personal data and empower the government to punish organizations or individuals who hack into China’s critical infrastructure, including by freezing their assets.

“This is about how the internet might harm the Chinese state in the broadest sense possible,” said the University of Leiden’s Mr. Creemers.

The law is the latest in a series of major statutes adopted under President Xi Jinping to gird against security threats as China enters an age of slower economic growth and greater political uncertainty.

The law was spearheaded by the CAC, a new agency set up by Mr. Xi in early 2014 to consolidate control over cybersecurity and other internet-related issues. The push for a unified approach has exposed tensions between security agencies and those in the government tasked with realizing China’s ambitions of becoming a leading technology innovator, according to analysts and industry insiders.

Although the law gives the CAC power to coordinate China’s cybersecurity efforts, there are still likely to be turf battles as security forces push to have a hand in areas like the setting of security standards, according to Adam Segal, an expert on China and cybersecurity at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“They’re not going to give up their authority without a fight,” he said.

 

[qwerrty]

'bout time. what took 'em so long?