Stefan Mileschin

US businesses are starting to get a little worried about the new spirit of McCarthyism which is starting to kick off in Washington.

The US has been attempting to purge Chinese businesses from lucrative contracts claiming that they are communist spies.

But yesterday the US China Business Council slammed a new law aimed at thwarting cyber-attacks by discouraging the Justice Department and several other government agencies from buying information technology systems from China.

John Frisbie, the group's president said that while the national security of the United States is critical, it must not be used as a means of protectionism.

In a stiffly worded letter to leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives he called for them to block similar measures in the future.

Frisbie said that product security is a function of how a product is made, used, and maintained, rather than by whom or where it is made.

He said that imposing a country-specific risk assessment creates a false sense of security if the goal is to improve our nation's cyber security.

China also wants the United States to repeal the law, which they said uses Internet security as an excuse to take discriminatory steps against Chinese firms.

The Information Technology Industry Association, Business Software Alliance and other business groups have also written to the government to tell it to sling its hook.

They fear Chinese retaliation and copycat legislation in other countries that could damage US interests.

Some are worried that the new laws could inadvertently impede the US government's ability to use the latest cutting-edge technology to protect itself.

http://news.techeye.net/business/bus...hina-crackdown