China is advancing a cybersecurity law that would tighten the state’s control over digital data and give it power to approve network equipment.
A new draft of a the law, published this week, aims to protect user’s data from hackers and data resellers, Reuters reported. But the rules could also give the increasingly restrictive government even more power to ban information and control companies’ technology choices.
{mosads}The law would force Internet service providers to store data collected locally within China, which digital rights advocates worry would give the government easier access to the information.
The law would also require all network technology to be approved under Beijing-set testing standards. Technology firms fear the standards would require giving Chinese officials guaranteed access to their data.
Authorities will take feedback on the law until August.
The draft is part of a broader move to institute new guidelines that China says are necessary to defend its cyberspace and prevent terrorism but that opponents believe merely encourage economic protectionism and enable digital censorship.
China in early July passed a new national security law that granted authorities vague jurisdiction to secure the country’s information technology, irking the international business community.
The draft cybersecurity law is likely to renew a tense dialogue between China and an international coalition of governments that have opposed the law in its various iterations.
The European Union, Japan and the United States have all vigorously spoke out against the efforts.
Earlier this year, President Obama called Chinese leader Xi Jinping directly to express his frustration with the rules. He later sent Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to China to discuss the issue with their Beijing counterparts.
While the emissaries succeeded in getting China to back down from a set of banking technology regulations, the Asian power gave little indication it would halt its broader efforts to pass a cybersecurity law.
Business and human rights groups and have already indicated they’re concerned about the new draft.
Jöerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told Reuters the Chamber was “worried.”
“The chief concern is that, as with many Chinese laws, the language is vague enough to make it unclear how the law will be enforced,” Wuttke said.
Human rights activists also noted new censorship practices in the draft that had not been specifically delineated before.
For instance, one article grants officials the legal authority to cut Internet access in specific areas to maintain order during “sudden” incidents.
China has cut the Internet before during rioting around the country.