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New Chinese Regulations Require Real Name On Internet

Posted by samzenpus on from the real-names-only dept.

mpicpp sends word that starting March 1st, China will ban internet accounts that impersonate people or organizations, and will require that people use real names when registering accounts online. "As part of an effort to increase control over the Internet, China's government this week revealed new regulations that require Web users to register their real names. According to The Wall Street Journal, the rules apply to users of blogs, microblogs, instant messaging services, online discussion forums, news comment sections, and other related services. Beginning March 1, China will also ban Web accounts that impersonate people or organizations, Reuters said. That includes groups posing as government entities—the People's Daily state newspaper—and impersonations of foreign leaders, like President Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin."

80 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. officially change name by zlives · · Score: 2

    after every post

    1. Re:officially change name by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      So are you allowed to rename yourself Anonymous Coward?

  2. Required across Asia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Russia does this, South Korea does this, and now China.

    1. Re:Required across Asia by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2

      The idea has been floated in the US before. It would probably fail at the Supreme Court level as freedom of speech includes the right to speak anonymously.

      See, when hacking off Linux lovers, anon is coward. When in these other countries, anon is brave.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    2. Re:Required across Asia by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      The idea has been floated in the US before. It would probably fail at the Supreme Court level as freedom of speech includes the right to speak anonymously.

      And the network providers (at least until the FCC regulates) have a right, as private carriers, to demand your real name before you're let on their network. Once the FCC gets involved, you still might need to. Talking on the internet is not standing in the street corner talking and could very well be seen by this or a future SC as an activity that, like radio broadcasting, could require identification and even a license. Certainly, if asshats don't start acting better on the interwebs, I could see this happening soon.

      --
      That is all.
  3. Luckily for me, my real name is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    already A. Nonymous Coward.

    1. Re:Luckily for me, my real name is... by plover · · Score: 2

      My real name is Fake Steve Jobs. Now what do I do?

      --
      John
  4. How long before everybody does it? by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 2

    Cue the "if you don't use your real name - you must be a terrorist" angle from the politicians

    1. Re:How long before everybody does it? by mrchaotica · · Score: 2

      By that definition, the United States was founded by terrorists.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    2. Re:How long before everybody does it? by tverbeek · · Score: 1

      Not just Common Sense, also The Federalist Papers .

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    3. Re:How long before everybody does it? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      John Hancock begs to differ.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    4. Re:How long before everybody does it? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They are only terrorists until they win. Then they retroactively become freedom fighters.

    5. Re:How long before everybody does it? by halivar · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure with a few more suicide bombings they could have gotten closer.

    6. Re:How long before everybody does it? by magarity · · Score: 1, Insightful

      How many Londoners were killed by George Washington's legions of suicide bombers?

    7. Re:How long before everybody does it? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      One of the best-known incidents building up to the was was the forcible entry of a ship and deliberate destruction of property. If someone tried that today in America as a means of protest, they'd probably be tried as a terrorist.

    8. Re:How long before everybody does it? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Not likely, as this type of thing does happen, and has never been tried as terrorism. It would be destruction of property or possibly theft.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  5. FCC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Sounds like what the FCC will do in the US eventually. Just give it some time until "for the children" or to fight "the terrorists" the FCC will require real names etc.

    1. Re:FCC by cayenne8 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sounds like what the FCC will do in the US eventually. Just give it some time until "for the children" or to fight "the terrorists" the FCC will require real names etc.

      Yep, I was just about to say, that as much as we in the US bash China for lack of privacy and personal rights (including the right 'not to be seen')....there are a lot in the US government (fed and state) just salivating over ending anonymous access to the internet just as much as the Chinese.

      The internet really snuck in under the radar of most governments, and Lord knows..if it came in to being today, it would not be nearly what we see today.

      Slowly but surely, I fear the US will follow suit and require registration to log on, regulation....and an end to what has so far proven to be a very valuable means of freely expressing one's self and speaking out against issues that matter.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:FCC by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      I can't figure out how they're going to do this. It's not like everyone has a unique name - quite the contrary.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:FCC by Cafe+Alpha · · Score: 1

      It's what private companies already do to us all over the web. :/
      I actually like anonymity.

    4. Re:FCC by grcumb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sounds like what the FCC will do in the US eventually. Just give it some time until "for the children" or to fight "the terrorists" the FCC will require real names etc.

      Yep, I was just about to say, that as much as we in the US bash China for lack of privacy and personal rights (including the right 'not to be seen')....there are a lot in the US government (fed and state) just salivating over ending anonymous access to the internet just as much as the Chinese.

      Have you not been paying attention? The 'real names' thing was invented here. Except it was started by the private sector, not government.

      Before you claim there's any difference between the two, I will direct you to The Dangers of Surveillance, a paper that first appeared in the Harvard Law Review, and is required reading for anyone who's interested in the legal principles at play here. I too used to think, 'Yeah, but you can walk away from a business, but you can't walk away from government.' The paper makes an excellent point that real name policies, no matter where they originate, are detrimental to human liberty:

      [W]e must recognize that surveillance transcends the public-private divide. Even if we are ultimately more concerned with government surveillance, any solution must grapple with the complex relationships between government and corporate watchers.

      In a nutshell, if a corporation has your data, then by hook or by crook, the government can get it too, often voluntarily, often in circumvention of the law.

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    5. Re:FCC by matbury · · Score: 2

      Erm... you might want to check out which countries have "pervasive" internet censorship and surveillance before you start throwing stones at China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    6. Re:FCC by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Welcome to 1990, when we were telling people not to use their real name online.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    7. Re:FCC by matbury · · Score: 4, Informative

      Oh, and which country is currently assassinating foreigners in foreign countries outside of declared war zones? And imprisoning people indefinitely without charge or trial? And torturing people? And has the highest number of people in prolonged solitary confinement, where “Psychological effects can include anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia, and psychosis.”?

    8. Re:FCC by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      This is one of the issues that Real-ID is meant to solve. Everyone will have a unique identifier.

      And when we get 666 tattooed on our forehead, all bets are off.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:FCC by JonathanR · · Score: 1

      Just make sure you sign it with your real name.

    10. Re:FCC by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Imagins all the SWATing increases when you have the person's real name rather than having to figure out who they are.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    11. Re:FCC by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Have you not been paying attention? The 'real names' thing was invented here. Except it was started by the private sector, not government.

      Err...I've not been forced to give my real name to any website that I felt worthy of my joining to.

      Some have asked, and I just don't give them my business.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    12. Re:FCC by zlives · · Score: 1

      China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States?

      oh wait thats just the members of Security council

    13. Re:FCC by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      What the heck is a "declared war zone"? If you're at war, you're at war regardless of geographical location. If there is a belligerent soldier in a neutral country, the neutral country is obliged by international law to intern said soldier, and while that doesn't give the other side carte blanche if not interned it doesn't make the assassination clearly wrong.

      You can argue that the US is not legally at war with a particular group, and therefore doesn't have the rights of a belligerent, but in that case there's no call for a "war zone" of any sort.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    14. Re:FCC by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Christians may have it tattooed on their left hand if they like.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  6. My name is by Chas · · Score: 1

    Inigo Montoya. You should be familiar with the rest of this by now.
    *STAB!*

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:My name is by Virtucon · · Score: 1

      Did they kill your father or something?

      --
      Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    2. Re:My name is by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      I'm trying to decide between Dread Pirate Roberts and Spartacus.

  7. Challenge Accepted! by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Man, how many million accounts can you create using a telephone database ....

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
    1. Re:Challenge Accepted! by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      ...which includes your home address, as does the IP address registration for your phone and home access.

    2. Re:Challenge Accepted! by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      ...which includes your home address, as does the IP address registration for your phone and home access.

      those can be forged. Even with IPv6. Just use an IoT bridge device.

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  8. Re:all names the same by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    In South and North Korea, almost everyone has the same last name.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  9. Give them some break, please. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    Looks like the Chinese Govt has decided not to be evil. So they decided to follow example set by the role-model of dont-be-evil, Google+

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Give them some break, please. by Chalnoth · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That would be nice, considering that Google has abandoned that policy entirely.

      Facebook, on the other hand, seems to be stepping up the enforcement of their real name policy.

    2. Re:Give them some break, please. by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      Looks like the Chinese Govt has decided not to be evil. So they decided to follow example set by the role-model of dont-be-evil, Google+

      I hope it works as well as Google+'s variant. None of my Google+ accounts use the name on my driver's license.

    3. Re:Give them some break, please. by Dr.Saeuerlich · · Score: 1

      Except that Google doesn't send it's goons to visit you at night to "check the gas meter" if you criticize the the US government and its policies.

    4. Re:Give them some break, please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hmm, soon they tell me my cat can't have a facebook account. He is registered with his real name there, so it should be ok. Even the profile picture is a real one and not a fake. I do help him with typing and forming opinions, as he is a cat, and doesn't type so coherently. And his opinions mostly circle around chasing things, killing things, and dragging this he killed to me. And eating. And licking himself. And destroying furniture. He does follow IKEA, you know, to keep in touch with what kind of furniture might be coming his way.

  10. The thing is... by drunk_punk · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I can see that this could be a good thing. Easier to prosecute for copyright infringement. Chase Down "Evil Doers". But HOLY JESUS, does anyone think that this wont be absolutely, sordidly, abused?!?! Plus, sorry China, it really smacks of, "Where are you're papers?" and we all remember how swimingly that turned out. So. Moving along?

    1. Re:The thing is... by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

      Turned out fine for China -- until it was replaced by RFID-enabled identity cards.

  11. Re:Oh well by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

    Time to change my official name to Anonymous Coward. I'll use my prior name as an alias for all off-line transactions.

  12. Sure, absolutely my name is.. by Virtucon · · Score: 1, Troll

    Fuk Yu and I have a twin sister named Fuk Mei

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  13. Re:I like this idea by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 1

    Two words:
    Great Firewall.

  14. the chinese government: by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    working very hard to make the rest of the world look so much more attractive and superior to the chinese approach to the internet

    1. people go overseas

    2. people use VPNs at workplaces with foreing interests that have carve outs from the anti-proxty, anti-VPN chinese efforts aimed at regular people

    3. people get access in new ways more nimble than chinese bureaucrats can whack-a-mole

    no one is fooled. everyone sees a degraded experience because of the insecurity of totalitarian assholes. disgust and hatred of the chinese government by regular chinese people is increased

    good job china!

    such "harmony"!

    more like the government is feeding a pressure cooker of resentment and frustration. morons

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  15. haha - using your real name in China by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Interesting

    85 percent of the billion plus people populace uses one of a hundred surnames, and for common given names there's a couple dozen popular ones for male and for female........LOTS of people have the same name. "Hi I'm Tang Li!" "how about that, we've ten other ones in the class this year!"

    1. Re:haha - using your real name in China by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      ZhangWei278554

    2. Re:haha - using your real name in China by Dr.Saeuerlich · · Score: 1

      They do have a national ID in China. You probably have to give your phone number too, which is linked to a lot of other accounts, like your bank account. They will find you. And hey, it's China, where you're gonna run to? Vietnam? North Korea?

    3. Re:haha - using your real name in China by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      How does national ID help finding troll Lau Chen on the internet?

      As for "where you gonna run to?", Douglas Adams has the answer (well I only had to change one word)

      China is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to China.

    4. Re:haha - using your real name in China by Rick+in+China · · Score: 1

      "haha" Yu so funy!

      Vote down, overrated. Obviously you haven't travelled abroad very much, or you'd realize not every country writes exclusively in English. "Tang Li" is pinyin, when you register for services online in China you don't/can't use pinyin - you use Hanzi. Hanzi is the character system of which, to use your stupid example, "tang" has very many iterations of different characters, and li has even more.

      If what you just wrote was said in a youtube video, you could expect mad hate for being an ignorant child - lucky for you it's just buried in a ./ post. "Haha".

    5. Re:haha - using your real name in China by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      "haha" Yu so funy!

      Yu, not so much.

      So, so, so, so, sensitive we are today.

      I christen thee No Hu Ma.

      I went to a Karate class taught by Sensei Tiv. He was a mix of Asian and Yiddish.

      Finally, let's all hope Jesus brings the bacon soon.

      Lighten up - life is more fun that way. Too many people are turning into walking sacks of umbrage.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    6. Re:haha - using your real name in China by Dr.Saeuerlich · · Score: 1

      people register with their ID - that's already common with many services in China
      It's like registering with Google+ with your passport, Social security number, etc.

      Did you really that registering with your real name in China means the same thing it did on Google+???

      - greetings from Shanghai

    7. Re:haha - using your real name in China by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Don't give them ideas. Someone will come up with a hash based on DNA. Hash collisions will be much less than names collisions.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    8. Re:haha - using your real name in China by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      This may come to as a shock to you but outside of China you don't register with Google+ with your passport or your social security number.

      I guess that's why he said, "Did you really that registering with your real name in China means the same thing it did on Google+???"

    9. Re:haha - using your real name in China by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Seems like either it is supposed to be like Google's now abandoned real name policy where the goal was to make people be nicer to each other, or they are planning to require other identifying information at the time of registration. Sure, people could lie but then they can charge you with breaking that very clear law, instead of trying to prove what you said meets the definition of subversive.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  16. relatively few surnames in china by peter303 · · Score: 1

    Not uncommon to have hundreds of peole sharing the same name pair.

  17. Given Name or Official Name by ian_po · · Score: 2

    People don't have "real" names. We are not born with a unique ID burned into our souls; there is no primary key for you in the CosmosDB. Names are what people refer to each other by. My name could as easily be Big Brother as Zheng Wu, both are just as valid. To be entirely too pedantic this OP should have used the term Official Name, i.e. the name the state uses to refer to you in governmental matters.

    1. Re:Given Name or Official Name by Garfong · · Score: 1

      We are not born with a unique ID burned into our souls;

      We do, however, have a unique ID burned into our bodies. It goes something like GATTACA...

      (well, excepting twins, chimeras and a few other special cases).

  18. Customer Service agents by anapsix · · Score: 1

    While I realize that my FiberStore CS agent's name is not Jessica, it's preferable to Xing Huay Chiung for the sake of communication. This would be why they chose to use Jessica instead of real name. This is why I tell Starbucks employees my name is "A", when they ask.

  19. OMG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you outlaw names, then only terrorists will have names! ..wait a minute!

  20. Re:Thanks a lot, Google. by virtualXTC · · Score: 1

    You must be trolling as google de-legitimized - they no longer require 'real name idiocy'....

  21. Re:Thanks a lot, Google. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

    s/Google/Facebook/gi;

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  22. Not entirely 'new'. by Rick+in+China · · Score: 1

    This is more of an expansion on the law rather than a new law. Microblog type services have required real ID registration for a long time -- you must provide a national ID in order to access, however, the display name did not (and still doesn't) have to be a real name.

    The news here is more about the affect on impersonations...which I don't entirely see as a negative. People should not be allowed to impersonate others or organisations online in any country, and I believe many countries have laws against this already. In California, for example, it's illegal - with heavier repercussions if one can prove intent to harm/defraud/defame/etc...

    So, for any of those who outrage against this type of thing, get over it.

    1. Re:Not entirely 'new'. by Rick+in+China · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'd also like to add the author is an idiot, and her article is pretty much full of speculation and garbage with copied stats to attempt to back it up, for example:

      "the CNNIC said microblog users dropped 7.1 percent to 249 million—unsurprising, as social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are blocked in China." - yes, first of all, "dropped 7.1%" - what? Does this person really think Twitter Facebook or Youtube accounted for, at any point in time, any significant user base in mainland China? The more popular local microblog/other similar services have hundreds of millions of active users (like Weixin/Wechat), nobody gives a shit about twitter or facebook being blocked and Youku streams like 1billion+ hours of video a month. There is no relationship between age-old bans on Twitter/Facebook/Youtube and any decrease in microblog registered userbases. *sigh*

  23. Re:It'd do away w/ your kind by fisted · · Score: 2

    ...says AC.

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
  24. Ultimate mashup? by Chas · · Score: 1

    I am the Dread Pirate Spartacus Montoya.
    I am not left handed.
    Prepare to die!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
    1. Re:Ultimate mashup? by Chas · · Score: 1

      I thought the real Dread Pirate Spartacus Montoya was living like a king in Patagonia.

      --


      Chas - The one, the only.
      THANK GOD!!!
  25. I wonder by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2
    How many people are ghoing to change their name to Phuc Yu?

    Oh wait, wrong country.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  26. Re:My real name is Sum Ting Wong by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    I'm a pilot :)

    We tu low?

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  27. Re:Not going to help by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

    I work at a company with ~1000 employees in Beijing. Over 80 of them have the last name "Wang"

    But after we get gender equity, we'll get that closer to 50 percent.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  28. Re:No more Jackie Chans? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    How do they cope with the countless Chinese using western names in real life, too?

    I knew a Harry Wang once.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  29. The Day The Music Died. by westlake · · Score: 1

    These are people new to the internet. Either because they're young or they just didn't jump in until the new century. They're people who came to our party late.

    It has been over twenty years since forces like AOL and Windows cracked the geek's hold on the Net. But there will some who will go to their graves unable to forgive or forget and move on.

  30. I'm up all night... by JonathanR · · Score: 1

    These regulations were sponsored by Jim Ardis. He was up all night working on this; amongst other things; and now has blood-shot eyes.

  31. Coming soon by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    to a Police State near you (under the guise of Title II classification).

  32. Integer Overflow? by tmjva · · Score: 1

    How many Wu's and Chen's can they keep track of?

    And will their tracking table burst?

    --
    Tracy Johnson
    Old fashioned text games hosted below:
    http://empire.openmpe.com/
    BT
  33. Re:"Superiority" of the "registered 'luser'" by fisted · · Score: 1

    Oh little mentally challenged AC, please use your little peabrain to realize that it wasn't me who held that "not standing behind their words" speech. I was just pointing out the irony of AC saying that.
    That being said, it's pretty easy to depseudonymize me, anyway. Yawn.

    --
    CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!