China Passes Tighter Information Law

China's legislature has imposed tighter requirements on Web and telecommunications companies to shield the nation's state secrets, which are often defined as including a broad array of information the authorities deem detrimental to security.

The amendment to the state secrets law, adopted Thursday and set to take effect Oct. 1, obligates network operators and service providers to cooperate with the police, state security officials and prosecutors in investigating leaks of state secrets. On discovering a leak, they must promptly block it and report it to higher authorities, according to a final draft distributed at a news conference in Beijing. Regulatory or security authorities would punish those who fail to comply. It will remain to be seen whether the new rules will change the kinds of information made available on the Web. Many of China's communications and Internet service providers are already state-owned entities, and they rarely defy orders to intercept content. The authorities already require cooperation under the auspices of existing telecommunications regulations, Sun Zhenping, a ranking legislative adviser with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top lawmaking body.