China is moving closer to a ban on anonymous blogging. Reuters reports that the Internet Society of China is recommending that bloggers use their real names when they sign up for a blog account. The Internet Society of China has recommended to the government that bloggers be required to use their real names when they register blogs, state media said on Monday, in the latest attempt to regulate free-wheeling Web content.
The article says bloggers can still use a pseudonym but only after registering their real name with the blog service. Word of Mouth thanks Google and Microsoft. Outside the Beltway compares it to the U.S. military's recent crackdown on blogging.
The society, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Information Industry, said no decision had been made but that a 'real name system' was inevitable.
"A real name system will be an unavoidable choice if China wants to standardise and develop its blog industry," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Internet Society's secretary general, Huang Chengqing, as saying.
"We suggest, in a recent report submitted to the ministry, that a real name system be implemented in China's blog industry," Huang said.
China Wants Real Names of Bloggers
