ICC Note:

China’s new cybersecurity law serves to strengthen Beijing’s already tight grip on freedom in China. The law clamps down on internet activities that, “overthrow the socialist system, split the nation, undermine national unity…” Human Rights Watch warned that the law will be used mete out heavy jail sentences for peaceful internet activists. The law even restricts the types of films that will be allowed in China, and outright bans films that are harmful to national interests while promoting films that encourage socialist values. The new law will give China a new means of clamping down on Christian material and movies within China and gives Chinese officials yet another means for detaining peaceful believers and activists.

11/9/2016 China (Radio Free Asia) – China’s draconian new cybersecurity law, passed by the country’s rubber-stamp parliament this week, has sparked concerns that it will be used to further stifle individual freedoms after a crackdown on dissent that has lasted since President Xi Jinping took power.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) adopted the controversial legislation on Monday, with the aim of “monitoring, defending and handling cybersecurity risks and threats originating from within the country or overseas sources, and protecting key information infrastructure from attack,intrusion, disturbance and damage,” according to the text of the law.

Efforts will also be made to punish online crime and “safeguard the order and security of cyberspace,” state news agency Xinhua reported.

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