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China toughens internet rules
(Volume 26, No. 512)
BEIJING – China has issued new restrictions on internet use, requiring those wanting to set up a website to meet regulators and provide identity documents.
The new rules come as the United States has stepped up pressure on Beijing to break down its vast system of web controls – the so-called “Great Firewall of China” – for the more than 380 million people now online in the country.
Washington issued those calls after US internet firm Google said last month it was considering pulling out of China over cyberattacks and Chinese government censorship of its search results.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the new guidelines to local authorities on February 8 and lifted a ban imposed in December on individuals acquiring .cn domain names, state media said on February 23.
It was not immediately clear if the new restrictions were now in use.
The ministry said the new rules were designed to tackle online pornography, but media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RWB) said the government was trying to scare people offline.
“These new regulations represent a very disturbing step backwards for the Chinese internet,” the group said in a statement.
“The pretext of combating pornography does not hold. The aim is to tighten political control and get internet users to censor themselves by bringing them face-to-face with their censors or their agents,” RWB said.
