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China's mounting crackdown on online news dissemination took
an extra
step today, when the country's Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress, its de facto legislative body, announced new requirements on Internet
service providers and mobile phone companies to identify their users. The new
rules would potentially allow ISPs and the authorities to more closely tie real
identities to posts and commentary on micro-blogging sites like Weibo, as well
as connect text messaging and mobile phone conversations to individuals.
The announcement follows a series of new restrictions on
Internet access in the country, including the blocking of virtual private
network (VPN) connections used to evade the "Great Firewall;" the blocking of major
foreign news sites' reporting on Chinese leaders; and censoring discussions
on domestic social media. The timing of the new steps is particularly
troubling to those who anticipated that restrictions would ease after the Communist
Party's National Congress in November, where new leaders were appointed, The New York Times notes.
Demanding real names for mobile phone users and even websites
is not unique to China, but it seems unlikely that the reasons that the Chinese
authorities gave--to protect against cybercriminals--are the entirety of the
thinking behind the ruling.
"Nowadays on the Internet there are very serious problems
with citizens' personal electronic information being recklessly collected, used
without approval, illegally disclosed, and even traded and sold," the Times quoted a member of the Standing
Committee as saying.
But China's new rules will hardly improve matters. In fact,
real identity systems exacerbate the problem, by requiring users to upload the
identity information and documents that others can use to commit fraud.
South Korea passed a law in 2004 requiring all forums to
collect the state resident registration numbers (the equivalent of a U.S. Social
Security number) of their users. In August 2011, hackers broke into the system
used to verify the numbers, and obtained the personal details, including the resident
registration numbers, of 35 million people, around 70% of the entire
population. The companies involved blamed Chinese hackers. The rule was later
struck down by the Korean Supreme Court as an
unconstitutional restraint on free speech. In 2010, Mexico retroactively
required all of its mobile phone users to provide their personal details with
the carrier. Shortly after the deadline for registration passed, copies of the
official databases--including the names and home addresses of police officers--were
found
for sale at Mexico City's Tepito flea market.
China's state media attempted to head off critics of the new
policy, while conceding that it would be used to target online conversations. "Reports
state that the identity policy will clamp down on the freedom of speech in
Chinese cyberspace," said
China's English-language Xinhua News Agency, "But the accusers should know that
freedom without limits or responsibility is chaotic and dangerous... The rule
should only be feared by slanderers who wish to take advantage of online
anonymity."
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