“Government investigators visited Microsoft offices in four Chinese cities Monday, according to a company spokeswoman. However, the reason for the visits was not immediately clear,” Calum MacLeod reports for USA Today. “Microsoft, like other U.S. technology giants in recent months, has been under fire from Chinese media for its perceived role in helping the U.S government conduct cyberhacking against China.”
“On Monday, investigators from China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) — the nation’s main business authorities — visited Microsoft offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu,” MacLeod reports. “Microsoft said the purpose of the visit was to begin an official investigation. It did not elaborate further.”
“In May, Beijing announced that central government offices were banned from installing Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest operating system, on new computers. Soon after, China’s state broadcaster CCTV ran a critical program suggesting that Windows 8 was being used to seize information on mainland citizens,” MacLeod reports. “This month, CCTV called Apple’s iPhone a threat to national security because of the smartphone’s ‘Frequent Locations’ function that can track and time-stamp the user’s location. Separately, Fang Xingdong, an Internet and blogging pioneer, in the Global Times tabloid Monday urged Chinese Communist Party, government and military officials to stop using Apple cellphones.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Chinese state-run media: Apple iPhone a danger to China national security – July 11, 2014
China state media calls for ‘severe punishment’ for Apple, other U.S. tech firms for ‘stealing secrets’ – June 4, 2014
China bans use of Windows 8 on government computers; Microsoft ‘surprised’ – May 20, 2014
man, oh man.. for a nanosecond there I considered compassion for Mircroshaft, then NAH.
I was the opposite. I started out cheering for China investigating MS. Then I saw the reason, and I’m totally on MicroSoft’s side on this one.
The Chinese government is not your friend.
They are communist crap.
The US government is not our friend either
Microsoft vs China: Such a hard choice to make.
yep, you right.
the old phrase
“don’t trust them any further than i can throw them” applies about equally well to either party.
Microsoft is unlikely to start a war resulting in the deaths of millions of people.
Mind you it did start one resulting in the death of free thinking. Actually more things in common than I had thought.
No but Microsoft’s parent nation is more than likely to.
I think USA needs to put Chinese companies under investigation for creating such toxic products as lead paints on children’s toys. Since US companies are helping US government to spy, it might similarly hold that Chinese companies are helping Chinese government to kill Americans.
Don’t you have Heath and Safety officials doing that already? After all for ages the US banned UK meat on the basis of the mad cow fear and we banned yours due to the use of antibiotics. The authorities just need to do their job backing up the existing legislation or planning new if its not sufficient.
Yet the Chinese government spies on it’s own people and the rest of the world, with product they have control over.
To avoid blame on oneself, blame others for your own transgressions. However, it takes one to know one. Apple is not spying though.
Whoever… has been under fire from Chinese media for its perceived role in helping the U.S government conduct cyberhacking against China.
Total hypocrisy. It’s been proven that China has been cyberhacking against the USA since 1998. And of course vice versa.
SPY VS SPY
Such is humanity.
I think China is just pissed because of the charges levied against some of its military personnel and their spying activities and hitting back in all directions with its bluster. We have to be very careful in empowering it to play its game of hypocrisy longer term.