China has yet again stepped up its restrictions on the Internet, and will soon require individuals to verify their identification and take a photo before they can establish a website.
The ability to create new websites had been initially banned in December, but will be allowed once again after webmasters go through a screening process. Citizens wishing to start their own sites must report to their ISP with ID and photo, and their applications will be forwarded to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for review.
China claims that this is another effort to prevent the proliferation of pornography. Critics, meanwhile, claim that this is just an additional move by China to censor free thought and government criticism; now that the government will know who owns the nation’s websites, anonymous posting will soon be much more difficult.
“This new measure comes as no surprise, since a key element of control has always been about how to use disciplinary punishment and surveillance to create a self-censorship environment,” remarked Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at UC Berkeley.
This news comes 43 days after Google announced that they would be leaving China if the country did not lessen their censorship of Google content. It is unknown when the new laws will go into effect.
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