One of the beauties of the Internet, as the Confucius-like
saying goes, is that nobody knows if you're a dog. In China,
however, the masquerade ball is likely to end soon when bloggers
are required to remove their masks of anonymity.
The Internet Society of China (ISC) under the Ministry of
Information Industry has proposed that bloggers be required to
register their true identities when they open a blog.
"A real name registration system is an inevitable requirement if
China wants to standardize and develop its blog industry," said
Huang Chengqing, secretary-general of the ISC.
Under the proposed new rule netizens must provide their personal
information and identification card numbers to web servers but
they'll still be allowed to write under pseudonyms.
The move has sparked an often heated debate on the Internet and
within the online industry, academia and officialdom. The pro-side
cites widespread online libel and slander that they say come from
the poison pens of cowards who hide behind their anonymity. Those
against registration say blogging is a modern grass-roots
phenomenon that's flourishing exactly because people are free to
express themselves.
In a big bang-like explosion China has developed a huge cyber
culture with more than 17.5 million bloggers. This is a 30-fold
increase in four years. An estimated 75 million Chinese netizens --
more than half the estimated 130 million Internet users -- are
regular blog readers, according to the recent ISC report.
While the blog phenomenon has created an unparalleled
opportunity for people to express themselves and communicate with
others the blogging craze has also caused disputes involving fist
waving vitriol, intellectual property violations and the invasion
of privacy. "It (real name registration) will help promote a more
civil discourse, which is now conspicuously absent on the
Internet," said Dr. Huang Huang of the School of Government
Administration at Peking University. A recent example of how bad it
can get involves an accused adulterer who was hunted down online by
slogan-shouting throngs known as the "web mob."
The husband involved started it by revealing some of the sordid
details of his wife's affair with a college student. Thousands
joined in the denunciation of the philanderer and online sleuths
were able to discover and publish the identity and contact
information of the student. Even the young man's family received
anonymous phone calls threatening "to chop the heads off of
adulterers, to revenge the husband." The student's university was
also contacted by anonymous writers demanding the school expel him.
This has not happened so far.
"These online 'flaming' wars are facilitated by anonymity," said
Huang. "Sheltered by their online pseudonyms, netizens see
themselves as investigators, prosecutors, judge and jury but never
have to answer for what they have done to the college student and
his innocent relatives," he said.
Fang Xingdong who founded China's largest blog-hosting website
agrees some things could be done to make bloggers a little more
responsible but he thinks real name registration is not
workable.
"The real name system will only lead to the exile of bloggers to
foreign blog service providers as they (the bloggers) will feel
their cyber home has been intruded upon and their right to speak
curtailed," Fang said.
Fang's website, Bokee, the phonetically translated Chinese word
for blog that he coined, also faces a huge financial burden with
real name registration.
"I need to pay five yuan (64 US cents) for every name and ID
number that I check with the public security. Just think of the
cost for the website that might need to check millions of
bloggers," said China's godfather of blogging who introduced the
concept to China in 2002.
With 10 million bloggers on Bokee his company could be hit up
for 50 million yuan (US$6.4 million) to authenticate the names of
all his blog writers.
Fang also believes the authorities already have all the power
they need to track online abuses. Just as Western countries track
down child pornographers or other law breakers, authorities here
can locate abusive writers from their IP addresses.
"The ultimate motivation for a real name system lies in bloggers
themselves," said Fang. "This solution is a wide-ranging survey and
public hearings are crucial before the policy is implemented."
So far neither ISC nor the government has issued details or
guidelines on how the personal data is to be managed, secured and
accessed.
The average blogging netizens also want to know just what the
rules will be for getting past their pseudonyms and if a code of
conduct will be imposed on them.
"If I register with my real information I'll always be thinking
there is some eye watching whatever I write and it feels bad. I
don't want intruders in my spiritual fairyland," said Yao Rui, 25,
a software engineer with a multinational company. Her blog is a
simple diary that details her daily life that only her circle of
friends would understand and be interested in.
Alex Li is another ordinary blogger who is not worried about
being attacked by the web mob. "Corrupt officials and law-breaking
entrepreneurs are usually the ones who are singled out by online
whistle blowers," said the 32-year-old tax counselor. "The real
name registration may cause whistle blowers to become victims as
they could face retaliation for telling the truth."
Prof. Yang Fengchun deputy director of the School of
E-Government at Peking University, said real name registration
would discourage grass-roots bloggers from expressing
themselves.
"Blogging represents grass-roots media that can help solve
social problems and supervise government. Anonymity sometimes is
critical for people to be able to speak the truth and express their
dissenting opinion," said Prof. Yang.
He said that for thousands of years Chinese society hadn't
cultivated enough space for differing voices. "Even if their
opinions are obviously wrong, as long as they make good arguments,
they contribute to a well-balanced society. Harmony is not made
with one voice alone," said Prof. Yang, adding that, "It's not what
you say but the right to say that counts."
Prof. Yang thinks the real name system will not be a quick fix
for the vitriol as the Internet is a reflection of the society. "If
people are not allowed to talk here they just go to another place.
There are countless portals, media outlets and other web sites that
you can write a blog on," he said, adding that libel and slander
issues should be dealt with by the legal system.
Prof. Meng Wei, a research fellow of the School of Journalism
and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
believes that the government should not punish everyone for the
sins of an uncouth minority. "If people are required to register
the government must put in place rules to prevent retaliation
against people who hold dissenting views," she said.
"Rules protecting the privacy of identification numbers and
other personal information are needed as are rules on protecting
people's reputations," she said. "The government should not be
vague about its rules and wait until someone speaks out before
declaring them off limits and issuing punishment."
Netizens should also use some self-discipline in expressing
themselves and be made aware of what is fair comment and what
crosses the line, she observed.
"People need to know the difference between expressing their
opinions rationally and imposing their judgment on others," she
said. "The blog sphere should be a force that promotes more human
awareness and understanding."?
(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2006)