State Council Issues Big Data Plan, Highlights Security

On September 5, the State Council formally published a notice concerning implementation of the Action Plan to Promote Big Data Development.

The plan highlights the critical role of Big Data in China's macroeconomic development, and outlines three primary objectives related to Big Data: 

• Propel the transformation of the Chinese economy, making more efficient use of the flow of information, people and capital
• Enhance China's national competitiveness, both in strategic resource allocation and utilization, and in protecting information security
• Improve governance, making use of existing databases and increasing the collection of information

The action plan also prominently features cybersecurity, referring to the "secure and reliable" language that has appeared in other recent policies driving the development of indigenous technology:

• In the section on promoting basic research pertaining to Big Data, the stated goal is to "form a secure and reliable Big Data technology system."
• To better safeguard China's Big Data ecosystem, the notice calls for the implementation of the multi-level protection scheme (MLPS) in China's Big Data space.
• Towards the goal of creating a support ecosystem for network development and Big Data, the policy states: "In areas pertaining to national security, adopt secure and reliable products and services, and by 2020, achieve full security and reliability in equipment used by all critical departments."