“Chinese government makes encryption like in iOS 8 illegal”

The Chinese government wants to introduce a law that makes encryption that companies cannot crack themselves, as Apple claims with iOS 8, illegal. Apple could get into trouble with the Chinese government as a result, reports The New York Times newspaper.

Under the new anti-terror law, companies must hand over the keys to encryption to officials to counter terrorism, The New York Times reports. In addition, information about Chinese users must only be stored on servers in China and companies must create methods to detect terrorist threats.

The rule is problematic for Apple, according to the paper, as the company claims it does not have the keys to encrypted data on iPhones and iPads running iOS 8. Apple will be very interested in continuing to sell devices in China, as the company it is estimated that more than a third of its iPhones are sold in that country.

Besides Apple, there are other companies that could be squeezed by the regulations, such as Cisco, Qualcomm and Microsoft. Those companies are displeased with the proposal for the new rules and are pushing for a ‘discussion’ on the subject. They think that China wants to favor and protect domestic companies so that they can expand their market share thanks to the measures.

Parts of the new measures have already been announced. There are extra strict rules for companies that want to supply hardware to Chinese banks. For example, they must give the Chinese government access to the source code of the software. The new measures would be both a result of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about US wiretapping and a response to the problems Chinese companies are having in the United States, because the US government suspects Chinese companies are spying for their government.