New Fears over Cyber-snooping in China
New regulations require Internet cafes in Jiangxi Province to install Chinese-developed operating systems on their computers. From AP:
The new rules went into effect on November 5 and are aimed at cracking down on pirated software, said Hu Shenghua, a spokesman for the culture bureau in the city of Nanchang, Jiangxi province. Internet cafe operators are required to replace unlicensed software with legitimate copies of either Microsoft Windows or China’s Red Flag Linux operating system, while paying a fee, he said.
However, Radio Free Asia said cafes were being required to install Red Flag Linux even if they were using authorised copies of Windows. It quoted Xiao Qiang, director of the California-based China Internet Project, as saying the new rules would help the authorities to undertake heightened surveillance of the cafes.
