New regulations aim to put an end to Internet anonymity

Aug 28, 2017 07:19 GMT  ·  By

Remaining anonymous while browsing the web in China is a concept that’s pretty much dead, as the country has just released new regulations that would require Internet users to reveal their real names when posting comments online.

Until now, users were forced to disclose their identity when connecting to a number of popular services like WeChat, Weibo, and use mobile phone numbers, but with this new set of rules, forums and smaller services would have to enforce the same requirement as well.

Quartz writes that according to the new regulations, websites and services would have to investigate any user who might be using a fake identity and store all the data for government inspection should it be required.

Users posting comments online are not allowed to oppose the principles of China’s constitution or damage the national honor and interests, the new rules state. Furthermore, spreading rumors or disrupting social order is also forbidden, and so is inciting national hatred and undermining national unity.

VPNs also banned in China

Chinese experts defend the country’s stricter rules, pointing out that despite the criticism, many other countries, including the United States, turned to increased control over the use of Internet for national security reasons.

“Not only China, but many other countries, including the US and many European countries, have been strengthening control over the Internet for national security reasons... The idea of sovereignty also applies to cyberspace, and countries have a right to implement policies to govern their own cyberspace. The West has no right to condemn China on cyberspace governance,” Shen Yi, professor at the Fudan University Cyberspace Research Center, was quoted as saying.

“China didn't have Internet censorship at the very beginning. China's Internet censorship is a defensive measure which is prompted by threats from hostile foreign forces on cyberspace, mainly from the US.”

Earlier this year, the Beijing government has ordered the three largest telecom companies in the country, namely China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, to ban the use of VPNs starting February 2018, in a move supposed to given the Chinese Community Party better control over the local Internet.