When it comes to complying with the law, this is where it gets tricky for companies operating in multiple countries, where what is legal in one country might not be in another. While tech companies in the US seem to be successfully opposing the US government’s requests to hand over encrypted data or provide a key to the authorities, over in China it is a different story.
According to a recent law passed by the Chinese government, it has made it a requirement for tech companies to hand over the keys to the encryption of its products when requested by the government. This is said to be part of China’s counter-terrorism laws, but some believe it is just the government’s way of keeping militants and political activists in check, something that China is known for doing in the past.
However China’s parliament deputy head of criminal law Li Shouwei said, “This rule accords with the actual work need of fighting terrorism and is basically the same as what other major countries in the world do.” For the most part on the surface that is true and seems to be in line with what other governments around the world are trying to do.
In fact recently over in the UK, a new law has been proposed that would grant the government more surveillance over its citizens which includes the ability to legally hack computers to gain access to information, as well as see what kind of websites individuals have visited. It is unclear how Apple and Google and other tech companies will react to China’s new law, but we can only imagine they can’t be too thrilled by it.