China to require real-name registration for Internet users

"Such identity management could be conducted backstage, allowing users to use different names when publicising information," said Li Fei, deputy director of the NPC Standing Committee’s Commission for Legislative Affairs.

The proposals are being pushed forward ostensibly to make it easier for the authorities to weed out online fraudsters, spammers and the like, although they would obviously also make life more uncomfortable for whistleblowers and critics of the Party.

They also raise potential privacy concerns for China’s web users if registration data is not suitably protected by the relevant ISPs and network operators.