Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
China fines US research firm $1.5 million in crackdown on
information-gathering
JOE McDONALD
Mon, August 21, 2023 at 7:48 a.m. PDT
BEIJING (AP) — An American research firm has been fined $1.5
million by China's government in a crackdown on information-gathering that has
rattled foreign investors.
Mintz Group was one of a series of foreign consultants that were raided starting in April after Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government announced expanded anti-spying rules that left companies unsure what they were allowed to do.
Mintz Group illegally engaged in “foreign-related statistical investigation activities without obtaining approval,” the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics said in a notice dated July 14 on its website. It gave no details of the violation but said Mintz Group was fined 10.7 million yuan ($1.5 million).
Mintz Group does background checks on employees and business partners and gathers other information for corporate clients.
Xi's government has tightened the ruling Communist Party's control over the economy and society, including by launching data security crackdowns and expanding restrictions on what information can be moved abroad.
That has shaken foreign companies at a time when Xi’s government is trying to revive investor interest in China as part of efforts to reverse a deepening economic slump.
Mintz Group said in April its Beijing office was raided by police and five employees detained. Bain & Co. said its staff in Shanghai were questioned by police. State media said in May offices of Capvision were raided by the foreign intelligence agency in Beijing, Shanghai and at least two other cities.
The British Chamber of Commerce in China said in May a survey found companies want “greater clarity” about how newly expanded anti-spying and other rules will be enforced before they go ahead with new investments.
This month, one of the world’s biggest law firms, Dentons, announced it was separating from a Chinese firm that has been part of its global network for eight years due to changes in data protection and cybersecurity rules.
Chinese companies have faced bigger penalties for data security violations.
In 2020, ride-hailing firm Didi Global was fined more than 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) by the internet regulator on charges of improperly collecting and handling data on millions of users.
Translation
北京（美聯社）中國政府進行打擊信息收集行為, 一家美國研究公司因而被罰款 150 萬美元, 令外國投資者不安。
明茨集團是在中國領導人習近平政府宣佈擴大反間諜規定後，從四月份開始遭到突擊搜查的一系列外國諮詢公司之一, 導致企業不確定自己可以做什麼。
北京市統計局7月14日在其網站上發布通知稱，明茨集團 “在未經批准非法從事涉外統計調查活動”。 它沒有透露違規細節，但表示 Mintz Group 被罰款 1,070 萬元人民幣（150 萬美元）。
明茨集團調查員工和業務合作夥伴的背景，並為企業客戶收集其他信息。
習近平政府加強了執政的共產黨對經濟和社會的控制，包括發起針對數據安全, 和擴大對信息出境的限制。
在習近平政府試圖重振投資者對中國的興趣、扭轉經濟衰退加劇之際，這举動震動了外國公司。
明茨集團四月份表示，其北京辦事處遭到警方突擊搜查，五名員工被拘留。 Bain & Co.表示，其在上海的員工受到了警方的詢問。 官方媒體稱，5月份 Capvision 在北京、上海和至少另外兩個城市的辦公室遭到外國情報機構的突擊搜查。
中國英國商會五月份表示，一項調查發現，企業希望在進行新投資之前 “更清楚” 地了解新擴大的反間諜和其他規則將如何執行。
本月，Dentons作為全球最大的律師事務所之一宣布，由於數據保護和網絡安全規則的變化，該公司將與一家八年來一直成為其全球網絡一部分的中國律師事務所分拆出來。
中國企業因數據安全違規而面臨更嚴厲的處罰。
2020 年，網約車公司滴滴出行因不當收集和處理數百萬用戶數據而被互聯網監管機構處以超過 80 億元人民幣（12 億美元）的罰款。
So, Xi's
government has tightened the ruling control over the economy and society again,
including by launching data security crackdowns and expanding restrictions on
what information can be moved abroad. That comes at a time when China is trying to
revive investor interest as part of efforts to reverse a deepening economic
slump.
沒有留言:
張貼留言