Chinese bloggers face restrictions
8 June 2005
The Chinese government has announced plans to introduce a system of officially registration for web forums, chat rooms and blogs.
The Asian country already has strict rules in place governing other websites and the Beijing government is now determined to bring blogs under state control. The Chinese government has imposed a filtering system on the country, known as the Great Firewall.
The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) announced that private bloggers must register the full identity of the person responsible for the sites, while commercial publishers and advertisers could receive fines of up to one million yuan (£66,000) if they fail to comply.
"The internet has profited many people but it also has brought many problems, such as sex, violence and feudal superstitions and other harmful information that has seriously poisoned people's spirits," the MII website states.
The Chinese government has developed a system that will monitor sites in real time and search each web address for its registration number. Those sites not registered will be reported back to the MII and action will be taken.
Press advocacy group Reporters without Borders criticised the move, saying: "Those who continue to publish under their real names on sites hosted in China will either have to avoid political subjects or just relay the Communist Party's propaganda." People in countries where freedom of speech is limited often use Blogs.
All blogs and websites must be registered by June 3rd. Official figures indicate that about 75 per cent of sites have already complied with the new procedure.
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