[NewsPoster]

At the end of last year, the Chinese government approved a 22-page set of regulations for the sale of computer equipment to Chinese banks, but that will ostensibly apply to all enterprise sales. The rules require foreign companies to turn over source code, submit to audits, and build "back doors" into hardware and software so that the government can monitor devices. The new rules are expected to be the first in a series to be introduced across the next few months.

Several foreign business groups sent a collective letter Wednesday to President Xi Jinping and his committee on cybersecurity, complaining that the ruling party's actions amounted to protectionism. Foreign companies are concerned that the regulations are intended to force them out of the Chinese market, with rules such as the requirement that 75 percent of technology products used by Chinese institutions must be classified as "secure and controllable" by 2019.

"Secure and controllable" is defined in a chart included in the regulation document. For computing and networking equipment, the chart indicates that software source code must be provided to Chinese officials for audit. Not only is this problematic for intellectual property and security concerns, but it could also violate US export laws. In addition, devices will face audits by Chinese cybersecurity officials, and must include "backdoor" access for the purposes of auditing and government monitoring.

The level of the invasiveness of the new regulations will appear to some critics as "projection" coming from a country renowned for its disregard of copyright and intellectual property rights, as well as a well-known and state-sponsored cyber-attack effort that generally aims to unlock secret information from western sources. However, it is also likely that US spy agencies have attacked China's computers or installed "back doors" or other methods of monitoring China's state secrets.

Zuo Xiaodong, vice president of the China Information Security Research Institute, is quoted by The New York Times as saying the policies are intended to boost indigenous innovation, but are not intended to eliminate foreign companies altogether. He went on to give an example of the difficulties faced by Chinese companies and local governments when Microsoft discontinued support for Windows XP. "From a security perspective," he said, "that simply wasn't acceptable. We're breaking away from these types of circumstances."

[Inkling]

Remember when Google was cooperating with the repressive Chinese government over the Great Firewall of China? Recall the other tech companies pandering, including Apple's. To avoid offending the Chinese government Apple's iOS Clock app doesn't assign a country to Taipei, capital of Taiwan. China has weighed Apple and the others in the balance and found them cowardly. This is the result.

[mgpalma]

Can you imagine the federal government here in the USA doing something so shady?

Or do they already...

[just a poster]

That shouldn't be too much work. Apple can just provide the Chinese with the same backdoors they leave open for the NSA!

[chimaera]

Mandatory back doors in China's banking and financial sector. This will correct itself within five years. I just wonder how much hackers will clean them for before they remove the back doors.

[Charles Martin]

chimaera: I like the way your mind works!

just a poster: Cook says there aren't any backdoors, and I believe him. If you look at the Snowden documents, it makes pretty clear that the NSA doesn't need Apple's help as much as they do the cooperation of the ISPs and Google.