[LINK] China seeks identity of Web site operators

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

China seeks identity of Web site operators

by Elinor Mills, February 23, 2010.
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10458420-245.html>

 
Web site operators will need to offer photographs of themselves and meet 
Internet service providers in person under new guidelines announced by 
the Chinese government this week, according to published reports.


The 'trial regulations' were issued by China's Ministry of Industry and 
Information Technology under the auspices of an ongoing anti-porn 
campaign, but, they will also help the government create records of all 
sites in the country and could be used to block other types of online 
content, the IDG News Service reported Tuesday. 

The regulations, which were dated February 8 and posted on sites of the 
Chinese telcom regulator on Monday, require ISPs to meet people applying 
to register new Web sites and to collect photographs of them. 

They also require applicants to provide a description of the site's 
content, along with other information, the report said.

Web sites without government records will lose their domain name 
resolution by the end of September, effectively pulling them off the 
Internet, the news service reported. 

More than 130,000 sites have been pulled offline recently for not having 
records with the government, according to the official Xinhua news 
agency. 

China is the largest Internet market, with more than 384 million users of 
the global network, Xinhua reports..

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Cheers,
Stephen