JACKSON, Miss. (WDAM) – As he signed two new bills into law on Tuesday, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves had strong words about the possible cybersecurity threats of Chinese technologies.
The two bills, SB 2853 and SB 2140, address issues with cybersecurity and electronics manufactured by foreign entities – particularly China.
“The Chinese Communist Party is not a friend to Mississippi or the United States,” said Governor Reeves. “They want to exploit vulnerabilities in technology to harm our country and our citizens. We’re not going to let that happen in Mississippi, and that’s why I signed these two bills.
“It’s time for our country to wake up and recognize the existential threat that the Chinese Communist Party and other bad actors around the world pose to Americans. We’re putting the safety of Mississippians first, and if that means you can’t use TikTok and other compromised technology on state devices or purchase drones made in China, so be it.”
SB 2853 prohibits state agencies from purchasing small, unarmed aircraft systems or drones manufactured by foreign entities. Additionally, SB 2140 restricts the download, access or use of prohibited technologies on state-operated networks by creating the National Security on State Devices Networks Act.
The Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services will establish the restrictions and maintain an updated and publicly available list of the prohibited technologies on its website.
For months, politicians at both the state and federal levels have raised concerns about how Chinese-owned drone companies have potentially stored and/or transferred data that the Chinese Communist Party and other adversarial foreign government entities could potentially access. Some local municipalities are also considering changes to their cybersecurity policies in light of the concerns.
The texts of the bills are available HERE (SB 2853) and HERE (SB 2140).
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