China says cyber hacking is against Chinese law and that it welcomes international companies to operate in China. This comes one day after Internet giant Google said it is considering pulling out of China because of cyber attacks and because of mandatory censorship requirements.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu faced numerous questions about Google's announcement that it is ready to leave China because of cyber attacks and censorship rules.
She told reporters at a briefing Thursday that China's Internet is "open."
Jiang says Chinese law prohibits cyber attacks, including hacking. She says China administers the Internet according to law and that its administrative measures comply with standard international practice.
She refused to comment on the specifics of the Google case, but said, generally, that China welcomes international Internet enterprises to conduct business in China, according to the law.
At the same time, Jiang stresses that Chinese law explicitly stipulates what content and information can be spread over the Internet.
Internet providers in China are required to filter out content that Beijing considers illegal, such as Web sites organized by outlawed group, Falun Gong. It also blocks Web sites run by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and some international news sites, such as the Voice of America.
Earlier this week, Google made an unexpected announcement that is considering withdrawing from China because of cyber attacks and because it says it will no longer accept operating a filtered search engine in China.
Chinese authorities and Google are discussing the matter.
In a separate development, the law firm that represents American software maker CYBERsitter - Gipson, Hoffman and Pancione - says it has come under cyber attacks this week, and the attacks originated in China.
Attorney Greg Fayer says he was one of the first people in the firm to receive what he calls a Trojan e-mail, which is an e-mail that allows the sender to initiate malicious actions on the recipient's computer.
"I can't say too much about it because there is an FBI investigation that is going on, but there was a series of Trojan e-mails that were sent to different members of our firm, that made it appear as if they were sent by other members of our firm, on different pretenses, asking them to click on links, saying, 'Look, I want to send you a file, it's too big, can you click on this link and it will get to you?'" said Fayer.
Fayer's firm last week helped CYBERsitter file a $2 billion software piracy lawsuit against the Chinese government and seven Chinese computer manufacturers.
The suit is in connection with the Green Dam censoring software program that was supposed to be unveiled in China in June. CYBERsitter, which also has been targeted by hackers, is accusing the Chinese firms of copying more than three thousand lines of CYBERsitter's code for the Green Dam software.
