China doubles down on real-name registration laws, forbidding anonymous online posts

[SecularMotion]

Source: techcrunch

China’s crackdown on Internet freedom is getting even more intense. Last Friday, the country’s top Internet censor announced a new set of regulations (link via Google Translate) meant to eliminate posts by anonymous users on Internet forums and other platforms. The Cyberspace Administration of China will start enforcing those rules on Oct. 1.

According to the new regulations, Internet companies and service providers are responsible for requesting and verifying real names from users when they register and must immediately report illegal content to the authorities. Tech firms, including Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, are under more pressure to serve as the government’s gatekeepers as China prepares for the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party this fall, which is expected to place new people in several key leadership positions.

Furthermore, a new cybersecurity law that went into effect at the beginning of June requires tech companies to store important data on servers within China. While this is supposedly meant to protect sensitive information, it can also make it easier for the government to track and persecute Internet users.

Along with announcing its new regulations about anonymous posts, the CAC also specified what content is forbidden from being published online (link and translation via Google Translate), citing a list from a 2000 bill regulating Internet information services in China. The list is so broad that it can cover almost anything:

Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/27/china-doubles-down-on-real-name-registration-laws-forbidding-anonymous-online-posts/

[Bengus81]

1. Trump will want that soon enough--especially on Twitter nt

[hunter]

2. The way it works in the U.S.A. is that our government knows who you are...

... but they ignore anyone who doesn't have an effective voice, which is most people.

If posting a Dilbert cartoon on the wall of your cubicle is all you need to blow off some steam, then nobody in power gives a shit what you are saying. That's what Dilbert is there for. We are free to speak so long as our voices are ineffective.

When we become a direct threat to the CEOs, their pet politicians and pointy haired bosses, that's where our anonymity ends, whether or not we are trying to preserve it. If, for example, I post some incriminating documents on the internet that show how a corporation is violating labor or environmental laws, and these gain traction among the general public, then I'm going to find myself in some deep shit.

You can actually learn a lot about our government by examining who and what they regard as threatening.