Real-Name Registration Regulation in China

Abstract

On February 4, 2015, China announced its new regulations that require all Chinese Internet users to register with their real names. The heightened control of Internet clearly demonstrates Chinese government's concerns over increasing social unrests and the abilities of Chinese Internet users to access information not censored by the government. However, the real-name registration regime has posed the greatest challenge to the anonymity of the Internet that many Chinese users have valued in an authoritarian society. Furthermore, the real-name registration system also impinges on Chinese Internet users' privacy, political freedom, and freedom of speech. This book chapter analyzes microblog discussions to examine existing Chinese censorship and control systems on the Internet, to investigate government's rhetoric to justify its censorship and control systems, and to identify major themes in Chinese netizens' reactions and discourses.