Take off your shirt before you say that! -via China Digital Times
After the announcement that Beijing authorities had mandated real-name registration for Beijing microblogs, there was some speculation that Guangzhou-based Tencent might receive a flood of users defecting from Beijing-based Sina Weibo, as Beijing municipal regulations apply only to companies based in Beijing and thus didn’t apply to Tencent. Unfortunately for those who prefer anonymity, though, Tencent and six other Guangzhou and Shenzhou-based microblogging services have now also implemented real-name registration systems.
According to the Southern Metropolis Daily, the requirement goes into effect today, and is a response to orders from the Communist Party this fall to implement better controls over microblog content. Since Sina Weibo has already implemented real-name requirements, this means that China’s largest microblogging services — with a combined user base of over 500 million people — are now both real name only.
The regulations are being touted in the media as a way to combat fake accounts and promote rational debate, but there is concern among users and observers that the regulations will also be used to facilitate prosecution of people who express opinions critical of the government or spread information about events the government doesn’t want publicized. This section of the Beijing regulations, especially, has given cause for concern (translated by William Farris, via Digicha):
Article 10. No organization or individual shall make unlawful use of a micro-blog to reproduce, publish, or transmit information with the following contents:
(i) violating the basic principles of the Constitution;
(ii) jeopardizing national security, leaking state secrets, subverting the government, undermining national unity;
(iii) harming national honor and interests;
(iv) inciting ethnic hatred or ethnic discrimination, undermining national unity;
(v) violating the state religion policies or propagating cults and feudal superstitions;
(vi) spreading rumors, disturbing social order, or undermining social stability;
(vii) spreading obscenity, pornography, gambling, violence, terror or instigating crimes;
(viii) insulting or libeling other or infringing on other people’s legitimate rights and interests;
(ix) inciting illegal assembly, association, procession or demonstration, assembling to disturb social order;
(x) illegal activities on behalf of civil society organizations;
(xi) contains content prohibited under other laws and administrative regulations.
Many of the phrases in this article will be familiar to dissidents and journalists, as crimes like “subverting the government” and “undermining national unity” are often used as blanket charges to justify the detention or imprisonment of those critical of the government or vocal about its abuses on a national or local level.
It’s also important to remember that in China’s case, “real-name registration” does not mean what it means on Facebook. Users are free to choose whatever username they would like; however, to make posts, they must have provided proof of identification (i.e., their state ID number and other documents) to the microblogging provider. Other users can’t see it, but it allows microblogging providers and by extension the government to keep very close tabs on who is saying what.
Whether the system will truly be used to prosecute dissenters is still unclear, but personally I’m not optimistic, and apparently neither are many of Sina’s users. An online poll of Sina users found that over 25 percent of them were planning to stop using microblogs as a result of the regulation. That said, the poll did have a small sample size, and all online polling should be taken with several grains of salt.
We’ll have to wait and see what actually happens, and how Chinese users react to it. But today’s announcement signifies that users no longer have a choice. If they want to use microblogs, they’re going to have to do it with their real names attached (or find a way around the Great Firewall and get on Twitter).
[Southern Metropolis Daily via Sina Tech]
Link to full article
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