New Chinese Rule Requires Real Names Online

crimeandpunishment writes "According to a human rights group, a leading Chinese Internet regulator is calling for new rules requiring people to use their real names online and when buying mobile phones. New York-based 'Human Rights in China' says it has obtained the complete text of a speech Wang Chen, director of the State Council Information Office, made in April, and they quote him as saying 'We will make the Internet real name system a reality as soon as possible.'"

Comments

Does this really do a lot of good?

[Locke2005]

Any guess on how many people share the name "Wang Chen" in all of China? Chances are most people could use their real name and still remain relatively anonymous.

Chin? Chin? Chin? Anyone?

[paiute]

This would be more effective if Chinese people had real names.

Re:It's being done in the US too

[morgan_greywolf]

Just like Chinese, this is required by Apple too.

All the more reason to buy an Android device rather than an iPhone.

Re:On par with USA...

[clarkkent09]

Because US government will routinely lock people up or kill them if they criticize it? Or because you'll get tortured if you practice a religion that the US government doesn't approve of? Or because all media is controlled by the government in the US and anti-government independent media is non-existent? Or because in the US to move from one city into another you need to obtain a government permit? Or because all parties except one are banned?

I don't agree with everything US does but let's get some perspective. Comparing US with China is kinda like comparing Obama with Stalin or Bush with Hitler. It's such a massive and obvious exaggeration that it only weakens any valid points you might have.

posts like this always make me laugh

[circletimessquare]

in which, taking full advantage of the freedoms of the west to say anything you want, you say that there is no freedom at all. or no difference with regimes that frequently jail people for political crimes

this is what happens in china when you express a political opinion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

but you can sit here, talk about all the bullshit idiotic political ideas you want, and, short of threatening someone's life, no one will care. no one's going to punish you, no one's going to control your mind

proof?

the proof is you felt perfectly comfortable writing the mental diarrhea you just wrote, and no one is going to knock on your door, and you know it, because you live in the west. and yet you assert your reality is the exact opposite. why do you do this? because you're stupid

please, enjoy the freedoms you say don't exist... while you exercise them (smirk). while i have absolutely no respect for your hysterical hilarious "opinion", i fully support your right to say it. because i live in the west, believe in, and support freedom of expression. luckily, it is equally my right to laugh my ass off at you as it is for you to spew the crap you do. unfortunately, some people in this world live under regimes where they don't dare criticize or laugh at the official party line. too bad you are to ignorant to know there is a real quantifiable difference between your life and theirs

you fear loss of freedom in this world, and yet you are absolutely no credit whatsoever to the actual principles of freedom, because your opinion is fucking retarded