Senior members of the United States Congress are preparing legislation which would create new punishments for companies from China and elsewhere that use trade secrets stolen by online hackers.
Mike Rogers, chairman of the House intelligence committee, said that the bill would be introduced next month and would likely include visa restrictions for entities using hacked intellectual property.
“We need to find ways to make the consequences of this more significant than the gains,” said Mr Rogers, a Michigan Republican. The bill was not specifically aimed at China but he said that the country’s theft of trade secrets through hacking was “breathtaking in its scope”.