Chinese Pass Backwards Towards Goal

The Chinese legislature, to nobody's great surprise, has passed the most unbelievable counter-terrorism law in recent memory.  ABC News, in an AP story yesterday, [http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/chinas-legislature-oks-controversial-anti-terrorism-law-35961983 ] says "They say it is troublesome that telecommunications companies and Internet service providers are required to share encryption keys and back-door access with the police and state security agents seeking to prevent terrorist activities or investigating terror acts."  This essentially means no security from the Chinese Central Government and the Communist Party, a strategy that every corporate boardroom will be looking at, if it hasn't already.  Nearly everybody has some business with China, and secrets they would like to keep that way.  This legislation makes sure there will be none.  

But, I feel so much better after reading this article which quotes the government spokesman, ""Relevant regulations in the anti-terrorism law will not affect the normal business operation of companies, and we do not use the law to set up 'back doors' to violate the intellectual property rights of companies," said Li Shouwei of the National People's Congress Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission.

"The law will not damage people's freedom of speech or religion," Li said."  

Today's Wall Street Journal has a similar article, but notes the language of the original draft was watered down, now "technical interfaces and technical support" for "terrorists and criminal" cases.  That could prove difficult, since the Chinese have a way of making criminals out of people who were doing business in a way that puts their businesses at a disadvantage.  All the assurances  in the world are not going to help that situation..   

Businesses that operate in China should be paying attention.  There is no way to protect business information with this kind of attention being made to the internal IT of a company.  If the Chinese government didn't use that information for its own benefit, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but they do.  They can make all the right assurances, but they remind me of the assurances they made a few years ago that nobody in China was hacking businesses in the U.S.