China prepares investigating IBM, Oracle and EMC Corp because of security issues, following the revelations of former American contractor Edward Snowden, over the massive spying program of the U.S. Agency NSA, including in China.
The companies will be investigated by the Ministry of Public Security and a research center of the Chinese government, according to local media, writes New York Times. Ministry of Public Security declined to comment.
Information on the investigation comes after Snowden revealed the heavily NSA spying program both in the U.S. and abroad, including accessing of important computer networks without permission at universities in China and Hong Kong.
Documents provided by Snowden to the media show that NSA had access to large volumes of data, emails or videos of major IT companies including Facebook and Google, in a government program called Prism.
“At present, thanks to their technological superiority, many of our core information technology systems are basically dominated by foreign hardware and software firms, but the Prism scandal implies security problems,” wrote Friday the Shanghai Securities News newspaper.
China, repeatedly accused of cyber espionage by the U.S., has used Snowden’s revelations to blame the United States of hypocrisy.
“The Prism scandal certainly provides ample material for real concern. What the scandal has done is make it increasingly difficult to ascertain what is being done out of legitimate concern and what may be being done for any sort of political reasons,” said Mark Natkin, from the market intelligence firm Marbridge Consulting based in Beijing.
Chinese regulators and police have begun in recent weeks a number of investigations regarding the business practices of foreign companies.
Officials with Oracle, IBM and EMC declined to comment. A Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) spokesperson said they could not confirm the investigation due to the sensitivity of this matter.
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