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China Moving to Real Name Registrations for Blogs
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."
Additionally, tactics like this in China, I can't help but wonder, will this in some way allow US Intelligence to decide exactly who is responsible for attacks against US Cyber Targets? If people are required to use their REAL names when registering (let's say on Yahoo just for an example), and there is a Yahoo group comprised of mostly Chinese users, which post all kinds of anti-American things, or organizing these attacks, what's to stop US Intelligence from forcing Yahoo to turn over the names of those registered?
Furthermore, what if the US decides to expand the "Patrio" Act, to include requirements like this (Hell they've already forced ISPs and phone companies into turning over ludicrous amounts of information).
Maybe I'm wearing a tin-foil hat and not realizing it, but is anyone else troubled by the recent trend in online privacy intrusions? That is one thing that is nice about the internet, it affords you a certain amount of anonymity. Could we be witnessing the end of that?
Also, just how much REAL difference is there in the US's privacy invasion crimes, and China's? Could it be that China is just more blatant about it?
This is a perfect example of why we need to preserve the possibility of anonymity on the net.
It's fine to authenticate financial transactions and what not, but there is no complete freedom of speech without the ability to be anonymous at times.
Actually, this sort of thing would be labeled "fighting terrorism" in the US.
that really narrows it down.
Is it too much to ask for a little professionalism with an article's "from the ... dept"?
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Fascists who quote Marx tend to be called socialists or communists. The difference is really very superficial.
Where were you when the voynix came?
FUCK YOU CHINA!
And by China I mean "Chinese government". Seems appropriate as the rest of the world mistakes US for US government!
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
In the US, that sort of thing would be labeled fascist. What are their rights, anyway? Do they even have any?
Damn it, that's not fascism. China does share some of the characteristics of a fascist state, but there are many non-fascist states that do not allow free speech. Different societies have different values, and in the growing homogenization of the West, that's lost sometimes.
TFA doesn't give any details, but I'd be willing to bet that 'registering your real name' doesn't mean they just give you a box and you type in "Sandy O'Hoolahan". Considering China's record with internet regulation, there's probably going to be enough checks and controls so that once you register, if you blog something they don't like, they can find you.
I actually think that this is a good idea (sort of). I think that when it comes to publications (not private data), anonymity is one of the Internets weak points. There would be less people mucking things up if they were personally identified.
I don't see personal identification as a problem in places like the US where there are laws that protect their right to speech and whatnot, but in China I have a feeling that this will get a lot of people in prison.
Sometimes people need to know who you are so that you will watch how you behave. You could argue that this is an infringement upon personal freedom, but successful societies do rely on certain levels of moderation (neither too loose or too tight). Not all information should be kept private, right?
exactly. let's not get up on our moral high horse here. We americans still live in a country where all our phone calls and internet traffic are monitored.
there is no need to sign your posts. this isn't usenet. your username is right there above your post. stop it.
"Different societies have different values"
Yeah, and any society that stifles free speech is a society that needs to change.
Let's not pretend that "to each his own" applies when we're talking about governments/religions/societies that restrict basica human freedoms. The reason that "Western culture" is taking over in most of the world is because it is a BETTER CULTURE in many, if not most, ways. Too many people mistakenly wax nostalgiac for the good old days of the Old World, and forget that the Old World was mostly a living hell for the vast majority of the non-ruling class.
No, dumbass. We live in a country where they *can* be monitored. Just like every other fucking country in the world. With the exception of banking and flying, none of your data transactions are monitored unless there's a court order. If you're communicating with known or suspected terrorists (not just everyone in the middle east) then they could monitor your conversations. But, if you cared about the law, you'd have realized that was legal and had been for more then 20 years.
We will only remain free as long as the free press tells the truth.
And dont forget, our political dissidents are put in prison as well, arrest of a citizen based on nothing but desire, etc...
America is not very far away from Communist china or North Korea.. At least our current leaders are hell bent to get us to what they have.
I'm waiting for us to be required to carry our papers, and have a passport for inter-state travel.
Think I am joking???? It's on it's way kids, to help save us from T E R R O R I S M !
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The "right to privacy" (heralded by many a culture from as far back as the Magna Carter) is read by many citizenry (in the West) as equivalent to "the right to not be seen" and/or "the right to remain anonymous".
Most legal systems (including the US, England and other "traditionally western" governments) actually recognise it more like a "right to be left alone". It is that description which better embodies the ideals or free speech, free religion & ultimately universal suffrage than any condition of anonymity. Any government should be within its rights to request identification of yourself (how else can an authority verify you are worthy of protection or assistance?) but it would be unjust that they harass you based on what you may say about them to others.
The "right to be anonymous" is a very different thing from the "right to be left alone".
Not mine. You must live in a different dimension where Democratic party talking points are reality.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Sure, you can say that Bush did not get the majority of the votes, but he got well over 40%. So while you might not individually be responsible for the government there are enough people in the US that are.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
You do need ID for interstate travel. A driver license is needed to fly, obviously drive, check into a hotel, get a credit card, apply for a job or rent an apartment. Sure, you can hitchhike, live in a barrack with a dozen of illegal Mexicans and take cash jobs as a gardener. Kind of like those North Korean refugees in China. But how many political dissidents, which tend to be intellectual types, are cut out for such a lifestyle?
Actually... I claim that there is such a law.
A government exists for one reason only, for the people. The people tolerate a ruling body for the purpose of some gain, as pointed out earlier. Without the right to free speech, there is no possible way to even discuss the possability that the government is not supplying what the people want/need. Basically the right to free speech is a control that the people must require of a government to ensure that they can make sure the government does it's job (yes, I meant that 2 layers deep). The question of who will watch the waters is simple... the watched of course, that is the job of the people to make sure the government does what is good for them, and rise up if it doesn't.
Basically all enforcing free speech does is allow an oportunity to figure out if what you have is what you want, and keep it that way if it is, or possibly organize against it if it isn't. It does allow for a bit of civil unrest as well, a certain dynamism of thaught. But change in thaught is how we grow as a species and society, whether the thaughts scientific or purely philosophical. I think it's fair to say that at least one those two ends lie somewhere in any societies goals, if only to discover what our goals should be.
So, I supose it's not a univeral law in the same sense as gravity, but certainly in the same sense as Thermodynamics... that is, just the way things work simply due to the rest of the system.
there are a number of ways you can prevent the chinese government or any other government from finding out who you are, using anonet is one way to make sure. its fast with full ip stack and anonymous and even connect to 3rd party services like tor - these people really do push the anonymity part along with technology, its not for everyone but it is an amazing group of people with a massive amount of information. the laws MII are putting into place are there to benifit only 2 areas: government for identifying people and corporations, and they leave these laws so undefined that pretty much anything will fall under it if they so say.
my 2anobucks