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The rigorous new Chinese cybersecurity laws which we wrote about<\/a> last November took effect today.<\/p>\n They\u2019re designed to give China\u2019s central government more direct control over the operations of internet-based companies operating in the country.<\/p>\n As we wrote last November:<\/p>\n The regulation would require instant messaging services and other internet companies to require users to register with their real names and personal information, and to censor content that is \u201cprohibited.\u201d Real name policies restrict anonymity and can encourage self-censorship for online communication.<\/p>\n The law also includes a requirement for data localization, which would force \u201ccritical information infrastructure operators\u201d to store data within China\u2019s borders. According to Human Rights Watch<\/a>, an advocacy organization that is opposing the legislation, the law does not include a clear definition of infrastructure operators, and many businesses could be lumped into the definition.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The official word from Beijing\u2019s state news agency, Xinhua, is that the law is an attempt to battle increasing threats from cyber-terrorism and hacking.<\/p>\n But it will also have a chilling effect on foreign businesses looking to grab a foothold in the world\u2019s most populous country.<\/p>\n Foreign companies have argued for more clarity and more time<\/a> to implement the controls that the \u00a0government want put in place, but so far China\u2019s internet regulator, The Cyberspace Administration of China<\/a>, has only relented on pushing back the date for laws relating to the cross-border flow of information.<\/p>\n According to a report in\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, those rules won\u2019t be implemented until 2018.<\/p>\n China does have legitimate security concerns. Thanks to lax intellectual property laws and rampant software piracy, the country was especially vulnerable to the WannaCry attacks<\/a> from earlier in the month.<\/p>\n The South China Morning Post<\/em> reported that over 30,000 institutions, including some major universities, had systems that were infected with the malware.<\/p>\n But critics of the legislation say that it does far more than secure the internet, it wraps China\u2019s already firmly held Internet even more tightly in the government\u2019s embrace.<\/p>\n As we wrote back in November:<\/p>\n According to Human Rights Watch<\/a>, an advocacy organization that is opposing the legislation, the law does not include a clear definition of infrastructure operators, and many businesses could be lumped into the definition.<\/p>\n \u201cThe law will effectively put China\u2019s Internet companies, and hundreds of millions of Internet users, under greater state control,\u201d said\u00a0Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch\u2019s China director. HRW maintains that, while many of the regulations are not new, most were informal or only laid out in low-level law \u2014 and implementing the measures on a broader level will lead to stricter enforcement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Featured Image: Bryce Durbin<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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The rigorous new Chinese cybersecurity laws which we wrote about last November took effect today. They’re designed to give China’s central government more direct control over the operations of internet-based companies operating in the country. As we wrote last November: The regulation would require instant messaging services and other internet companies to require users to… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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