14 DAY TRIAL // A new regulation from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is expected to be enforced in the country starting March 1, banning Internet users from registering online accounts with anything else but their true identity.
The new measure aims at eliminating accounts that distribute false information through setting up profiles impersonating different personalities, this including parodical accounts such as those seen on Twitter and other microblogging platforms and forums.
Online monikers must conform to the rules
However, users can still pick an alias and choose their own profile pictures, as long as the data passed during the registration process identifies the owner of the account. Furthermore, the moniker must comply to the country’s laws and constitution, and it shouldn’t damage the public interest or religious policies, or instigate to ethnic disputes.
Any profiles discovered to breach the aforementioned provisions (Google Translate) will be considered fraudulent and the accounts will be canceled.
Verifying the accuracy of the information falls on the shoulders of Internet companies. According to Reuters, Weibo has already started to comply to the new standard and last month it removed 293 accounts with “harmful names.”
How this regulation will be enforced remains to be seen, as South China Morning Post (SCMP) said that China’s Internet watchdog did not provide any details about the future plans, or if the measure is to be applied retrospectively.
Considering that China has about 650 million Internet users, conceiving a strategy to make them all change online account registration details would not be a small feat.
Hijacking accounts is a problem that should not be overlooked
Some believe that mobile phone numbers or identity cards will be required upon registration in order to demonstrate one’s true identity.
The new regulation gives the Chinese government more control over free speech, as any critic can be identified. Moreover, SCMP reports that the Supreme People’s Court now allows online communication of any nature (like chats, tweets, comments or blogs) to be admitted as evidence in civil trials; until now, these records were recognized as evidence only in criminal trials.
Even if this could help identify the truth in court, since the messages would be attributed to a specific, identifiable individual, there is still the problem of validating the information and checking that it really belongs to the right person.
Hijacking online accounts is an issue many individuals and even companies confront with. Malware installed on a computer could give an attacker full access to the machine and the opportunity to publish messages on the victim’s behalf.
In Japan, a hacker named Yusuke Katayama, who compromised the computers of various people and used them to issue death threats and to taunt the police, was sentenced on Wednesday to eight years in jail.
The incidents started in 2012 and the police had real difficulties in demonstrating that he was indeed the offender. Four innocent people had been wrongfully arrested until Katayama finally admitted his guilt.