All Ur Sourcecode R Belong to Us!

Trust us!

The Chinese government plans to introduce a new system requiring foreign firms to disclose secret information about digital household appliances and other products starting from May, sources said Thursday.

The envisaged system is likely to target products such as IC cards, digital copiers and possibly flat-panel TVs.

If a company refuses to disclose such information, the Chinese government plans to ban the firm from exporting the product to the Chinese market, as well as bar production and sales in the country, according to the sources.

Critics worry that such a system risks seeing the intellectual property of foreign firms passed onto their Chinese competitors.

Oh, come now! What are the chances of that, "critics"? I mean, it's not like China is the world leader in entertainment piracy and nuclear espionage. Right? Well, even if they've stolen a few things, they've freely shared boxed take-out with us, and that's got to be worth a few billion bucks worth of source code, yes...?

I'd sooner trust Hannibal Lecter to babysit the kids than trust the Chinks to not steal something. They're like kleptos with OCD and a cocaine habit.

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(Hat-tip to Jeff W.)