Beijing- International Business Machines Corp or IBM has allowed China to prove that the company is free of security risks by allowing the country to review its source code. The limited access to the source code is a request of China and the first company to ever comply with the country's demand.
According to a report from the Wallstreet Journal, officials from China have been allowed to examine the country's proprietary source codes inside an IBM room, where they can be assured that no information will be reaching beyond the area. The amount of time given to China has been unspecified, and it is also not clear which products the country has been allowed to re-examine.
Two people who are briefed about the practice serve as the main sources of the news. They said that the practice of reviewing the source code is new and has just been implemented by IBM. The company has not specified which other countries have been allowed to review their source codes, but it has claimed that it allowed other countries to conduct tests on their source codes in a controlled environment provided by IBM.
"Strict procedures are in place within these technology demonstration centers to ensure that no software source code is released, copied or altered in any way," IBM said. The company also stressed that it does not allow the government access to customer data. On Thursday, IBM Senior Vice President Steve Mills has been reported to disclose the source sharing agreement. This is said to be a bid for IBM to ensure continued growth in the country.
IBM is also calling on countries such as the United States to participate in the practice. Many US firms are against Beijing's call for technology sharing among different countries all over the world. While the Chinese IT business and the market are both lucrative and fast-growing, allowing access to technology codes may give way to more competition among countries.
