China’s Internet and telecom regulator MII has long toyed with various schemes to force China’s Internet users to register with their real names and ID numbers. These moves have sometimes targeted online gamers, sometimes bloggers, and sometimes everyone who uses the Internet.
According to this report on CE.cn (in Chinese), all Internet cafés in Beijing’s Xicheng District will have instituted a real name registration system by the end of this month, with the rest of the city’s downtown districts to follow by the end of the year.
It’s still easier to get online anonymously in China than in most other countries, and it’s likely that the online game addicts who frequent Net cafés in Beijing will find it easy to work around the system.
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