China's first permanent connection to the Internet was on April 20, 1994. Since that time, China has been officially recognized as an Internet-accessible country.
The Administrative Measures on Internet Information Services was adopted by the State Council on September 20, 2000 and was last amended in 2011. The regulation sets out three requirements for internet service providers to operate legally: permission, prior review and approval, and specialized review and approval. This regulation outlines Internet information service providers’ duties to promote “the healthy development” of the Internet sector in China. The regulation distinguishes “profitable” and “non-profitable” Internet information services and states the licenses that need to be obtained before certain activities are allowed to be pursued on the Internet in China. Additionally, the regulation necessitates that Internet information services provide “well-developed safeguarding measures of network and information security, including measures to safeguard website security and systems to guarantee information security and secrecy as well as the security of user information.” Finally, the regulation requires Internet information services to document their activities with the Central Government or the Ministry of Information Technology (MII).
This regulation requires telecommunications businesses to obtain permits from the State Council in order to pursue any activity in the telecommunications arena in China as well as specific regulations that must be followed when operating in the telecommunications field. It also sets out what type of business qualifies as a “telecommunications business.”
The Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the Chinese Internet Industry is an agreement between the Internet Society of China, a self-governing Chinese internet industry entity, and companies that operate sites in China. By signing the agreement, internet companies pledge to target and prevent the transmission of information that Chinese authorities deem prohibited. This includes information that "breaks laws or spreads superstition or obscenity" or that "may jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability." The pledge covers four principles of self-discipline for the Internet industry: patriotism, observance of the law, fairness, and trustworthiness. Signing the pledge is optional. However, by not signing it, organizations are ineligible to obtain a Chinese Internet Content Provider license, which is required to obtain a ".cn" domain.
The State Council Information Office announced transfer of its internet regulation duties to a new subordinate agency, the State Internet Information Office, comprised of four senior officials, which would be responsible for regulating the Internet in China. By design, the State Internet Information Office was set up to bring internet service providers’ and users’ cyber activities under increased governmental scrutiny.
The National Security Law is issued on July 1, 2015 by the National People's Congress Standing Committee. Being vague and broad in scope, the law allows the government to take "all necessary" steps to guard China's sovereignty. This includes employing heightened surveillance measures on the internet by calling for all valuable internet infrastructure within the country to be "secure and controllable." This has led to even more censorship on the internet within China's borders, and a tighter hold by the government on how digital information leaves China's borders. Many foreign leaders and businesses have criticized the law as being on to severely limit the influence and operations of foreign corporations in China.
In principle, the U.S. and China agreed, among other things, to: (1) Provide timely responses to requests for information and assistance concerning malicious cyber activities, (2) Refrain from conducting or knowingly supporting cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, (3) Pursue efforts to further identify and promote appropriate norms of state behavior in cyberspace within the international community, and (4) Establish a high-level joint dialogue mechanism on fighting cybercrime and related issues. The general consensus is that the number of cyberattacks from China have declined, but have not disappeared.
The Counter-Terrorism Law of the People's Republic of China is enforced as of January 1, 2016. This law requires telecom and Internet providers to grant access as well as other forms of technical support and assistance, including decryption, to government authorities in order to prevent and investigate terrorist activities. The law gives the authorities greater rights to supervise private communications and it puts the pressure on foreign firms to either give up access to important data stored on Chinese soil or leave China altogether. In addition, the law imposes increased censorship on terrorism-related information in the media in an effort to prevent any imitation of terroristic crimes. Finally, the law institutes a new revised definition of "terrorism," which is, “any advocacy or activity that, by means of violence, sabotage, or threat, aims to create social panic, undermine public safety, infringe on personal and property rights, or coerce a state organ or an international organization, in order to achieve political, ideological, or other objectives.”
The first court specialized for internet-related disputes was officially created in China on August 18, 2017. This court will operate entirely online, with the hope that this method will increase efficiency. For jurisdictional purposes, it is located in Hangzhou, a region known for its heavy e-commerce and will operate at the district level. This specialized court will litigate on: (1) contractual disputes relating to online shopping, online services or small-amount of online financing; (2) copyright disputes relating to the internet; (3) infringement of moral rights relating to the internet; (4) product liability disputes for goods purchased online; (5) disputes over domain names; (6) disputes arising from administrative actions relating to the internet; and (7) other civil or administrative litigation relating to the internet as may be assigned by the higher-level court (the Intermediate Court of Hangzhou).
On October 4, 2017, the U.S. and China met for the first U.S.-China Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue (LECD). The LECD is one of 4 dialogues agreed to by President Trump and President Xi. The goal is to increase mutual understanding in the realm of advancing bilateral law enforcement and cyber priorities between the two countries. The topics discussed were: repatriation, counter-narcotics, cybercrime (counter-terrorism) and cybersecurity, and fugitives.
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