China Introduces New Cybersecurity Laws

The Chinese government has passed new laws that put more pressure on the country's tech companies to increase surveillance and monitoring of internet users. The 'Cybersecurity Law' means that any instant messaging service requires real names and personal information to be registered, whilst all data will now be stored within Chinese borders. However, it has been suggested that the lack of a clear definition within the ruling could mean that businesses are affected as well. Companies will also be required by law to report all “network security incidents”, and provide “technical support” to the government during investigations. This lacks clear definition as well, however, so could enable authorities to force websites to create surveillance methods for government use. For this reason, human rights groups have opposed the new laws, including Human Rights Watch who has said that “China's internet companies, and hundreds of millions of internet users, [are now] under greater state control”. 

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