China determined to stamp out online freedom, privacy
In an article by Mure Dickie, The Financial Times reports that China seeks to implement a “real name verification system” for internet users.
Part of the dictatorial rulers of China’s concern is internet addiction by gamers but their main concern is invading the privacy of their people and insuring that no negative comments directed against the government goes unpunished.
By destroying online anonymity China hopes to “purify” the internet of socially and politically suspect activity, Dickie claims. Online bloggers, for example, will be unable to engage in what the authoritarian Chinese government calls “irresponsible” commentary.
Hu Qiheng of the China Internet Association, as reported by state-controlled media, insured the privacy of Bloggers’ real names “as long as they do no harm to the public interest.”
Is the public interest harmed by revealing how dictatorial communists in Beijing spy on their citizens and oppose some of the most basic human liberties? Is the public interest harmed by showing support for what many people in Taiwan want? Is the public interest harmed by calling for freedom for Tibet? It is all these and more. Indeed, the public interest can be harmed by anything the control-obsessed Chinese government says is harmful.
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