China Plans Online Registration System

 

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned to learn that China’s State Council Information Office plans to create a registration system for web-users seeking to participate in online forums or to post information on the Internet.

 

According to an article in the state-owned China Daily newspaper on May 5, the Minister for the State Council Information Office, Wang Chen, disclosed that the system would require netizens and cell-phone users to supply their real names when posting information on the Internet, instead of using “usernames” or pseudonyms.

 

Wang reportedly said that the office had been exploring the creation of an identity authentication system for web-users posting to bulletin boards, citing a need to prevent “hostile overseas forces from infiltration via the Internet”. Wang explained that preventing the dissemination of “harmful information” was a key concern of the office.

 

According to the China Internet Network Information Centre, about 400 million Chinese citizens go online, while more than 600 million people own cell phones.

 

“The proposed system will intimidate web-users into self-censorship, limiting freedom of expression online,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

 

The IFJ urges the State Council Information Office to reconsider and drop its plans for the registration system, on the basis that it will contravene China’s constitutional guarantees to freedom of expression.

 

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919

 

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries worldwide