Chinese Bloggers Encouraged to Register Contact Info

Raver32 writes "Blog service providers in China are "encouraged" to register users with their real names and contact information, according to a new government document that tones down an earlier proposal banning anonymous online blogging. At least 10 major Chinese blog service providers have agreed to sign the "self-discipline pledge" issued by the Internet Society of China, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported."

Comments

If people knew the real ubuntudupe

[UbuntuDupe]

I can't even imagine how many death threats I would have gotten by now for saying bad things about Ubuntu, if people had my real contact information.

Registration mechanism in Norway falls not short

[Anonymous Coward]

1. The majority of social networking sites, and the debate pages of every one of the major national media, require a mobile phone number for registration, which must be renewed regularly.

2. It is illegal to sell mobile phone subscriptions (even 'pay as you go' topup) without confirming the personal details of the one buying it, including the SSN equivalent, and these are stored in a database.

The effect is virtually indistinguishable from the Chinese 'draconian' scheme - an individual may not post to any of these sites without being identifiable and trackable. And if I remember correctly, Chomsky called it 'the most civilised society in the world', so it can't be all that bad.