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.
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.
The difference is in who is requiring this. The site operator/company (such as blog,newspaper,social network) or the central govt. It makes a big difference.
It's weird how everytime there is criticism of some country people pop up to say that the US is also bad in some way. It's a non sequitur. China is fucked up, full stop. Is the US fucked up too? Yes. That doesn't mean China should not be criticized for their fuckupery.
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?"
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.
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.
In China the citizenry is constantly fed lines how 'China is not bad, don't listen to the foreign critics, just look at all the awful things the West does'.
Pretty easy way to never look at yourself critically and fix problems. The west is bad sure, but why does that mean China can't be better? The self-maintained status quo by the citizens in China is incredibly strong. This is by design.
> American media call Mugabe a dictator and call Cameroon's President a "chief of state", but both countries hold the same kind of elections.
"Chief of state" and "dictator" are orthogonal descriptions. "Chief of state" describes the ceremonial head of any state, whether or not they are actually the head of government, and whether or not they are elected, and whether or not they exercise dictatorial power.
"Dictator" refers to anyone exercising dictatorial power, whether or not they are also the chief of state (its possible, particularly, for a dictator to be head of government in a system with a separate head of government and chief of state, as might happen in a military junta in a state with a ceremonial monarch.)
I think the strong negative opinions by many when issues like this come up is tied to how highly, in general, Americans value freedom of expression. The rationale for this is that no matter what injustices may be present in society at least if we can discuss them in open forums, there's reason to hope that the injustices can be corrected. China, with its track record of stifling expression and even attempting to write unfortunate events out of history (e.g. Tienanmen Square) has consistently trampled over what many Americans consider to be the most critical safeguard protecting people from a government that acts badly.
Go to Xinjiang. Many of the police there carried automatic weapons. It was basically an occupied country AFAICT. This was back in 2006. I don't know how things are today. I reckon that the policy of "ethnic cleansing by dilution" might have changed things, at least in Urumqi. Kashgar I reckon has the same occupied country vibe.
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.
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...)
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.
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.
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.
[+] [-] screwedup|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hyperpape|11 years ago|reply
Thankfully, I don't think a real names policy has much chance in the US for the time being.
[+] [-] mc32|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guelo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] higherpurpose|11 years ago|reply
You made it sound as if we shouldn't call the Chinese crazy over this. When in fact we should call both crazy.
[+] [-] wyager|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] innguest|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arca_vorago|11 years ago|reply
Youtube co-founder jawed's first youtube comment: "why the fuck do i need a google+ account to comment on a video?"
[+] [-] sukilot|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pagnotta|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ThisIBereave|11 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] dmix|11 years ago|reply
Pretty easy way to never look at yourself critically and fix problems. The west is bad sure, but why does that mean China can't be better? The self-maintained status quo by the citizens in China is incredibly strong. This is by design.
[+] [-] dragonwriter|11 years ago|reply
"Chief of state" and "dictator" are orthogonal descriptions. "Chief of state" describes the ceremonial head of any state, whether or not they are actually the head of government, and whether or not they are elected, and whether or not they exercise dictatorial power.
"Dictator" refers to anyone exercising dictatorial power, whether or not they are also the chief of state (its possible, particularly, for a dictator to be head of government in a system with a separate head of government and chief of state, as might happen in a military junta in a state with a ceremonial monarch.)
[+] [-] bostonpete|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] malandrew|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eva1984|11 years ago|reply
Possibly, mainland China is the second last countries in the world, next only to North Korea, where hacker news audience wants to live.
NO INTERNET. End of story.
Disclaimer: Chinese.
[+] [-] parennoob|11 years ago|reply
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
2. http://boingboing.net/2011/08/27/eric-schmidt-if-you-cant-us...
[+] [-] screwedup|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hyperpape|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yongjik|11 years ago|reply
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>
[+] [-] buro9|11 years ago|reply
If so, they've just solved a huge chunk of the comment spam problem.
[+] [-] mentat|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] azurezyq|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] malandrew|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] happyscrappy|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JeremyMorgan|11 years ago|reply
But I guess I'm posting this as someone using their legal name so there's that.
[+] [-] freehunter|11 years ago|reply
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.