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China Moving to Real Name Registrations for Blogs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the defeating-the-greater-internet-fuckwad-theory dept.

dptalia writes "China is moving to require people to use their real names when blogging. The proposed solution, arrived at by the Internet Society of China (affiliated with the ministry of information) would allow bloggers to use a pseudonym when blogging as long as they used their real name when registering."

3 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. Re:From the ... dept by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

  2. Re:Annoying, yes, but... by xSquaredAdmin · · Score: 3, Informative
    The society, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Information Industry, said no decision had been made but that a 'real name system' was inevitable.
    Judging by that quote, I get the impression that they aren't necessarily going by real names, but some sort of identifier which would allow them to determine which individual posted content, which could very well be the ID number that you speak of.
    --
    Crushing dreams at the speed of sarcasm
  3. Re:China -- thanks for the perfect example by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Supreme Court agrees with you (as did the Founding Fathers who published the Federalist Papers under a pseudonym).

    McIntyre vs. Ohio Elections Commission (514 U.S. 334 (1995)) ended with the Supreme Court deciding "an author's decision to remain anonymous, like other decisions concerning omissions or additions to the content of a publication, is an aspect of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment." Talley vs. California was decided with the comment "[p]ersecuted groups and sects from time to time throughout history have been able to criticize oppressive practices and laws either anonymously or not at all."

    Nor is fear of persecution the only issue. The Supreme Court also noted "On occasion, quite apart from any threat of persecution, an advocate may believe her ideas will be more persuasive if her readers are unaware of her identity. Anonymity thereby provides a way for a writer who may be personally unpopular to ensure that readers will not prejudge her message simply because they do not like its proponent."

    Anyway, I don't envy the Chinese authorities investigating a blogger and having to walk through the country going "Is there a Chang here? We're looking for Chang."