The Chinese government started to implement a long-discussed measure that requires cellphone subscribers to register their identities when setting up an account, prompting concerns over privacy in the world’s largest mobile market.
September 1, 2010
By Loretta Chao
BEIJING—The measure went into effect Wednesday, with customer service representatives at mobile operators China Mobile Ltd., China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. and China Telecom Corp. informing customers that new users would be required to register their names and provide proof of their identity when signing up for new phone numbers. State media said the government plans to require all existing users eventually to register as well, but hasn’t yet finalized a timetable.
Chinese officials have talked for years about possibly implementing such a “real-name” system for cellphones, as well as for Internet users, for example when they sign up for blog services or in order to use Internet cafes. Most mobile users in China use prepaid accounts that don’t require them to provide identification. Research firm Nielsen says 87% of Chinese mobile subscribers use prepaid phone plans, compared to less than 20% in the U.S.
The government says that anonymity enables rampant spam and telecom fraud, which are indeed pervasive problems in China. But the anonymity has also enabled people to share politically sensitive information—from text-message jokes poking fun at top leaders to photographs of public demonstrations—with far greater freedom than Chinese enjoyed before the advent of cellphones.
China now has more than 814 million mobile subscriber accounts, and adds an average of more than five million more a month. The number of actual users is smaller, because some have more than one account, but the total is still far larger than that of any other country. And for many Chinese users, cell phones are a key means of expression, communication and getting news.
Some Chinese users expressed support for the government’s real-name effort, but questioned the lack of detail on how the information will be handled or kept private.
There is “both a bright side and a dark side” to the measure, said Helena Luo, a 27-year-old mobile user in Shanghai. “We’ll need to worry about our privacy from now on, but we’ll also see less mobile fraud.”
“Who would be responsible for the possible leak of personal information?” one Internet user from Liaoning province wrote about the measure on a website run by the Phoenix satellite television station. “How will this issue be solved? Who would be responsible for compensating users [for any breach]? Are there any specific rules in law regarding these issues?”
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates the telecom industry, declined to comment. China Unicom also declined to comment. China Telecom couldn’t be reached. A China Mobile spokeswoman declined to confirm whether the company will force subscribers to register their real names, but said that, regardless, “China Mobile is, as always, determined to protect the rights and interests of customers.”
It’s unclear how effectively the government will be able to enforce the new real-name system. An executive at one of China’s three major carriers said the plan would be “impossible to implement nationwide in one step,” since cellphone network cards are sold through a wide array of outlets, including mom-and-pop stores in small villages.
It’s also uncertain whether the rule can be enforced for the hundreds of millions of existing subscribers who have not registered their real names with operators. Customer-service representatives at both China Mobile and China Unicom said existing users are not yet required to register, but are highly encouraged to do so in order to avoid problems when they sign up for new services or request replacement network cards when they lose their cellphones.
U.S. lawmakers made a similar proposal in May. Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas) sponsored a bill that would require pre-aid cellphone buyers to show identification, saying such a measure would help authorities trace criminals and terrorists. Civil-liberties and privacy advocates have opposed the measure.
But the issues are more acute in China, where the government tries to control information flows and frequently detains or imprisons people for using technology to spread sensitive political speech or material labeled state secrets. Chinese authorities have stepped up their oversight of the Internet in the past two years and last year announced a separate initiative specifically targeting the mobile Internet, including a reiteration of their desire to force users to register their real names.
China’s government draws little distinction between its right to regulate pornography or fraud, as many countries do, and its right to regulate expression. So crackdowns on obscenity often result in limits on political speech as well.
A growing number of Chinese are accessing the Internet exclusively through their handsets, because cellphones are more affordable than personal computers. The Chinese Internet Network Information Center estimates that nearly 12% of mobile Internet users went online only through their cellphones as of June.
—Owen Fletcher in Beijing and Juliet Ye in Shanghai contributed to this article.
Write to Loretta Chao at loretta.chao@wsj.com
Copyright 2010 The Wall Street Journal