The great spy web in China

The move to make communications companies monitor and inform on clients8217; activities,reported Tuesday by state media,comes as China continues tightening controls on the Internet and telecommunications services. It also follows a spat over censorship that prompted search giant Google Inc. to move its Chinese site to Hong Kong last month.

A draft law submitted to China8217;s top legislature for review obliges telecoms operators and Internet service providers to help police and state security departments in investigations about leaks of state secrets,the state-run China Daily newspaper said.

In China,state secrets have been so broadly defined that virtually anything 8211; maps,GPS coordinates,even economic statistics 8211; could fall under the category,and officials sometimes use the classification as a way to avoid disclosing information.

Under the new legislation,all Internet providers and telecom companies would be required to detect,report and delete information deemed to be disclosing state secrets,the newspaper report said. It did not say what penalties for violations would be.

The draft law leaves a wide scope for what could be considered state secrets,defining them as: 8220;information that concerns state security and interests and,if leaked,would damage state security and interests in the areas of politics,economy and national defense,among others,8221; Xinhua News Agency said.

The draft law was submitted Monday to the National People8217;s Congress Standing Committee for a third review 8211; usually the final stage before being adopted by lawmakers.

Chinese leaders appear determined to monitor the flow of information that reaches the world8217;s largest Internet population of 384 million users. The government recently also issued new regulations to tighten procedures for domain name registration and to remove websites that are not officially registered.

Chinese authorities view the control of information as key to heading off or controlling the spread of unrest. After deadly ethnic riots broke out in a Muslim region in western China in July,Beijing blocked Twitter and Facebook,unplugged the Internet entirely and slowed cell phone service to stifle reports about the violence.

Limited Internet and phone texting services were restored in recent months.

However,human rights activists say the information control is used to stifle any challenge to the Communist Party8217;s grip on power and to identify political activists and punish them.

In January,authorities in Xinjiang detained a man who allegedly sent text messages that contained comments about 8220;splitting the country,8221; news reports said. The man who was detained had initially received a warning by the telecommunications company over the contents of his text messages,but he ignored the warning and continued to send the text messages to several other mobile phone numbers

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