
China tightens Web controls; commenters must register real names - dak1
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-web-controls-20150204-story.html
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screwedup
Before you start thinking "oh, those crazy Chinese...", remember that many
people in the USA (and other western countries) fervently believe that we
should do the same thing.

~~~
hyperpape
I think one can think both that the Chinese government is exceptionally
repressive and be scared how many people in the West might be willing to
follow their lead.

Thankfully, I don't think a real names policy has much chance in the US for
the time being.

~~~
marvin
Most Norwegian newspapers enforce a full-name policy in their comments
sections. Which is frankly ridiculous; anyone who seriously wants to troll
just comes up with a fake name. But it's very worrying that this is taken
seriously by people in our own society.

~~~
bad_user
Don't know the quality of Norwegian comments on newspapers, but if it's
anything like what happens in my country, I can understand them asking for
full names. In short, stupid and mean, really mean, YouTube-style. Of course,
a full name policy doesn't help. Even when the comments section is powered by
Facebook, with most users having real names and being sort of trackable, you
still get the same stupid and mean comments, because let's face it, a majority
of us on the web are stupid and mean.

I'm really against nation wide policies, but on the other hand here we're
talking about web properties. Personally I don't care when those shitty
newspapers that I don't even read demanding full names. For one it's their
right to do so. And also, as long as this isn't by law, it means that you
always have alternatives and that's what competition is about. I mean, really,
Reddit has 10 times more users than the population of your country and my
country combined.

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arca_vorago
What really bugs me is that this is the same direction a lot of policy makers
and even tech companies seem to want to go, all the while decrying the Chinese
for the same actions. I hope we don't allow it to progress that far in the US,
but we really need to step up to the debate when people start droning on about
cybersecurity, trolling, libel, and defamation on the Internet. Perhaps I'm
just in the minority that thinks free speech should include the right to
offend and we should not allow everyone to get offended at anything they want
and get it banned.

Youtube co-founder jawed's first youtube comment: "why the fuck do i need a
google+ account to comment on a video?"

~~~
sukilot
Note that Google has reversed course and apologized for Real Names policy

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pagnotta
It is funny how american media is eager to depict China as a North-Korea, and
how americans opinions end being formed by their partial media in the same way
it happens under dictatorships. Have spent a decade in China, I have yet to
see a cop carrying a gun. Cops in China are way more friendly than in US, and
for me, way more trustable. people think they keep the chinese people under
fear and draconian control, but if you spend some time in China and listen to
the people, you see thats not the whole truth. American media call Mugabe a
dictator and call Cameroon's President a "chief of state", but both countries
hold the same kind of elections. Anyone saw the news about the recent death of
the Arabian king? I didn't read any mention about him being a dictator, indeed
he is, but he is an ally.

~~~
ThisIBereave
I lived in China for 6 months and saw plenty of cops with guns and saw
undercover cops roughly throw around a street vendor who had gotten too close
to the forbidden city for their liking. Your view here seems to be willfully
obscured.

Having your opinion formed by the media is a necessity of living in a world
where you can't get first hand information for everything, i.e. a constraint
imposed by reality. the difference is that in the west you can choose what
media you want to pay attention to, and the media itself is free to report
what it wants.

~~~
virtuabhi
If media is free, then why is Glenn Greenwald in Brazil and Laura Poitras in
Berlin?

[0] [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2797916/filmmaker-
di...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2797916/filmmaker-directed-new-
film-edward-snowden-avoids-uk-fears-arrest-official-secrets-act.html)

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parennoob
I fail to see how this is different from Facebook (and formerly Google+)'s
real names policy which will flag unusual names and force you to give a valid
Government ID to reactivate your account.

Facebook (along with Twitter) is often the gateway to commenting on a lot of
popular sites in the US. Very few people stop and make the alternate account
required.

References:

1\.
[https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185](https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185)

2\. [http://boingboing.net/2011/08/27/eric-schmidt-if-you-cant-
us...](http://boingboing.net/2011/08/27/eric-schmidt-if-you-cant-use-your-
real-name-dont-use-google.html)

~~~
screwedup
One is a decision by a private company (which you can get around by using a
different service) and one is a mandate from the government.

~~~
arca_vorago
Given both Googles and Facebooks origin funding, I think a debate could be had
about this point.

~~~
trynumber9
Explain what you mean. Where did their funding come from?

There is no US government law or rule to enforce real names (see Twitter,
etc).

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yongjik
South Korea tried that several years ago. The outcome was (well, apart from
gross restriction of freedom of expression) that every small and large
websites were legally required to ask for people's personal identifying
information and store it somewhere. There were several popular incidents where
millions of people's information were hacked, and who knows how many incidents
were there that wasn't publicized.

These days it's safe to assume that the name and Residential Registration
Number of pretty much every South Korean is floating somewhere in China.
(Well, at least the law is gone now...)

Glad that China is following our lead.</sarcasm>

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buro9
Does this apply to Chinese commenters on overseas blogs and forums?

If so, they've just solved a huge chunk of the comment spam problem.

~~~
mentat
If the Chinese government wants to help unmask people?

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azurezyq
I don't think it will affect much, most of the sites are using qq/weibo/renren
openids, and they have long been "real named" behind. And actually I don't
care how the gov track my activities, just care about the leaks of personal
information, which were kept safe most of the times for big names.

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malandrew
I wonder if this regulation will also apply to government sock puppets.

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happyscrappy
It may be hard to persecute you if we cannot easily identify you.

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JeremyMorgan
This isn't the craziest idea in the world. Trolls can be distracting and a ton
of garbage to discussions. This isn't one of those "evil Chinese laws" in my
opinion.

But I guess I'm posting this as someone using their legal name so there's
that.

~~~
freehunter
Someone trolling an Internet discussion board shouldn't result in a federal
law removing all privacy from everyone. The trolls might stop, but what about
government critics who are now being silenced because they will be killed if
they reveal their real name?

You might not have to worry about your government breaking down your door if
you post something negative about your politicians. Some people in other
countries do.

~~~
JeremyMorgan
While that's a good point I'm just playing devil's advocate here. It's
probably among the least crazy things China has done.

By the way thanks people who disagree with me for the downvotes. Cause that's
what they're designed for.

