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Tech Worries Amplified with New Antiterrorism Laws in China

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Dec 30, 2015 11:02 AM EST

The new antiterrorism laws in China could prove worrisome for the tech companies and their operations. The first counterterrorism laws have been passed by China's legislature which will be in effect from January, according to Xinhua net. The idea of this law is to identify activities and people, including the ones in an online discussion, that can pose threat to the government or public security. "Nowadays, the Internet is increasingly used by terror groups to spread their extremist ideas, recruit fighters, channel fund and plot attacks," a Xinhua commentary said.

The most important aspect of the new law is the provision that will allow that Chinese government to demand from the internet service providers and the telecom companies for "technical support and assistance, including decryption." According to a report by Wall Street Journal, the previous proposal did not ask for encryption code provision and was not a part of the law. Before the law was passed, tech giants such as Apple, expressed concern regarding the privacy that the company could maintain once the law into force. Critics even call it a Chinese government cover to snoop into the technology company operations and lawfully bypass the security and privacy settings of devices such as Wi-Fi routers, televisions and smartphones. In the defense of the new law, Weixing is reported to have claimed: "China is against double standards on anti-terrorism issues."

Bloomberg reported that when Li Shouwei, deputy director of the criminal office of the National People's Congress, was asked about the acceptability of the law, he responded, "Our assessment is such requirements do not affect companies' normal business operations. And there is no such issue of China using the requirement as a back door to violate companies' intellectual property or, as you suggested, to violate citizens' freedom of speech and religion".

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