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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."
I'm sure that there is a "Laung Wang" joke in there somewhere.
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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I feel bad for the Chinese government. I mean with all the free trade and stuff they're barely even communist anymore. You may call stunts like this "repression". I call it China staying in touch with it's roots. Remember the chairman. (A single tear falls)
You can make a difference. Donate to The LEEBY (Larry Ellison's Even Bigger Yacht) Fund.
Names are by no means unique identifiers in China -- there are only a hundred or so family names in common use and the characters used in people's names are often recycled. With the population of China being as large as it is, even if you use your real name there could easily be 50 people in your area who have exactly the same name.
Now if they were requiring that a person register with their ID number -- everyone in China has one -- that would be something. It surprises me, actually, that they're not doing that. I wonder why?
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.
The same thing is in place for registering .us domain names, isn't it?
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http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/31/0
The reason for domain name registration is so that a name is not consumed by an uncontactable individual. It's like owning a building to print/sell newspapers. If something happens to the property or you do something to it, they may need to contact you about it. What this is saying, however, is that you have to use a name that can be traced when blogging, which is an exclusivly speech activity. Basically it seems they require all journalists to be registered. This would be like the US government requiring all publications to discose who their authors are.
Reminds me of The Stainless Steel Rat. When the blogging gets tough, so do the remaining bloggers.
When I was in China in the 90s they had blocked cnn.com but only the front page.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
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.
Not exactly. It is 100% legal and easy to bypass either. For phone calls, if you feel your personal line is insecure, buy a 'pay as you go' cell phone and register it with made up info. Online, there are darknets and proxies aplenty to keep you as anonymous as you choose. Both of these solutions are completely legal.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am master of my fate and captain of my soul.
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".
Dear Lumpy,
Please don't be on my side.
Sincerely,
bunions
there is no need to sign your posts. this isn't usenet. your username is right there above your post. stop it.
Not mine. You must live in a different dimension where Democratic party talking points are reality.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Prove that. Prove that although we can be monitored, we aren't. Because I can prove otherwise: I worked for a company called ClientLogic that does customer service and Tech Support for Earthlink in Albuquerque, NM. Every single message you send out through Webmail is kept on a server, whether or not you delete it at home. We even had the option of reading your mail and then checking a box to Mark them as "Unread". Because you are such a compliant citizen, it makes no difference to you, I'm sure, but all servers do that. If we didn't like what we read, we were trained to report it anonymously at work or simply to call DHS on our own.
And just like I'm sure in China they will be scanning large amounts of date for keywords, the same thing is done here. Noone is sitting there reading everything but certain sites and certain keywords or phrases activate surveillance on you. Google Total Information Awareness and Ecehelon...
A famous, funny, and somewhat insightful joke to be sure, but I'd have to say that the vast majority of insightful, inspiring, bullshit-cutting dialog I've ever witness (or partaken in) has been on the internet. Check out the top of that blackboard--the comic was inspired by Unreal Tournament 2004, not +5 Insightful comments on slashdot. For all of the bullshit and flame wars out there, I think that anonymity inspires honesty and frankness that, while holding the potential to inspire personal attacks and general disruption, also holds the potential for real, unhindered communication in a way that most real-world communication sadly lacks. If a friend or coworker or member of my family says something stupid and shortsighted about (for instance) Iraq, most of the time I let it slide because it isn't worth the potential long-term consequences if they decide to take offense or otherwise become bothered by my response. Even less-divisive topics can be troublesome. I remember one time a somewhat-ditzy coworker of mine starting ranting about how sucralose (Splenda) was soooo unhealthy because she heard it contained chlorine, and I was like, "ummmmmmm...., so?" "Chlorine is bad for you!" "Well, chlorine bound up in a molecule isn't *inherently* harmful. In fact, you get far more chlorine from eating salt!" and somehow she took offense (ok, so maybe I laughed at her just a *little*. Couldn't help it.) Put a stopper on the entire conversation, and for a weeks afterwards she wasn't as friendly with me. Oh yeah, and I've probably alienated at least a dozen other coworkers with simple, non-confrontational, matter-of-fact statements regarding my (dis)belief in God and religion in general. (I'm not a completely insensative person, but I happened to be working with a ton of highly religious people and they kept asking me about my church and my prayers and stuff. And when I said "I don't believe in God" they usually asked why. So I told them.)
Anyway, you just don't have to worry about this kind of shit online. At any time you can walk away and find another forum (or hell, sometimes just another username) and never talk to those people ever again without any undesirable long-term consequences. Yeah, you can swing too far in the other direction and devolve into vicious, pointless flaming (safe in the knowledge that you don't personally know anyone involved) but on the whole I think there's more rational discussion on the net than in polite-and-politically-correct real life.
But it could just as well be ingenious in the opposite direction as well. I note that it says nothing about addresses being required. In a country with well over a billion people, what are the chances of anyone having a unique name?
As always with this sort of thing, the devil will be in the details. It may be as bad as you think, but it might be a clever sap for the PHBs with no teeth what so ever. Sort of a "Who is Wen Chen and why is he saying these horrible things about me?" situation.
--MarkusQ
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.
No, they cannot. I'm from China. Just to show you some facts: One of my bank account (which is used for ebay) is under a fake name (the Chinese equivalence of John Smith). The name on my ISP account is fake. My utility bill is always send to a person died 1182 AD. And the name on my cellphone bill is, guess what, fake. None of these involve any underground or high-tech work, and all I did was to lie when being asked.
Knowing these, do you still think real name mean real name?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe many people will be sent to prison because of this, but it won't take long for Chinese people to figure out how to lie.
PS, In U.S., cellphone, credit card, ISP, and pretty much everything else require real name (worse than that actually: SSN), but somehow people did not care at all.
To reinforce the parent's point -- consider the concept of "social contract", particularly with the clause that a lack of effective resistance is tantamount to consent: the people of China silently agree to let themselves be governed this way, in exchange for the (possibly unequal in value) "benefit" of knowing that most of their fellow citizens are mostly equally deprived of those rights, forming a more homogenous, calm society -- and it's worth it to them not to revolt en masse. You can sign away some of your rights in contracts, you can also imply away your supposed basic human rights to your government. So long a nobody's willing to fight for it, it's not really a basic right -- just the empty declarations of a piece of paper.
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?
And just how does the military (NSA) bring a warrant request to a civilian court? This is why the NSA monitors known terrorist numbers (the target) and reports them to the FBI when there is a possible connection to a US Person/Citizen (not the target of monitoring). The FBI then has to get a FISA warrant. It has been reported in the Washington Post that FISA judges will not issue a warrant to the FBI solely based on a NSA lead. The FBI must first provide some further reason/evidence for a warrant.
This is similar to a situation where you called a known criminal that had their number tapped. You are not the target of the tap, but they will listen in on your call to/from the target of the warrant.
The change that happened after 9/11 was that the Bush administration felt that the NSA should pass intelligence data to the FBI legally. Nothing has changed as far as what calls were monitored by the NSA. What changed is that they could tell someone about it.
English is easier said than done.