President Obama has a strong relationship with tech companies when it comes to issues of cybersecurity. He has done his best to step out and work with companies in Silicon Valley to fight cybersecurity threats. It's also safe to say that President Obama's comments regarding China's tech policies are a bit unorthodox.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Obama criticized China's attempts to protect itself from cyber threats. Obama expressed that he was concerned about a new Chinese counterterrorism law that seems to overextend itself. The law requires all tech firms in China to hand over access to encrypted data and to install backdoors into software for surveillance purposes. Chinese firms would also be required to host data in China and to provide the government with access to it upon request.
When Obama heard about this new law, he could not support its development; "[The US Government] have made it very clear to them that this is something they are going to have to change if they are to do business with the United States."
In Obama's eyes, the law is unrealistic.
"Those kinds of restrictive practices I think would ironically hurt the Chinese economy over the long term because I don't think there is any U.S. or European firm, any international firm, that could credibly get away with that wholesale turning over of data, personal data, over to a government," he said.
A U.S. official told Reuters that it has contacted China about these concerns. However, the Chinese government feels that it is necessary, considering that China perceives a great threat from religious extremism at this time. The law is still in draft form and likely won't be activated.
