China is clamping down further on Internet users. Service providers now must play a greater role in policing online behavior -- verifying identities, deleting offending posts, and reporting violators to the government. The rules will undoubtedly pose challenges for companies wanting to do business in the country as well as for individuals wanting to engage in free and open discourse.The Chinese government issued a set of new Internet rules on Friday. Internet users must now provide their real names to service providers, and ISPs are required to delete forbidden posts and report such activities to authorities. In other words, the so-called "Great Firewall of China" has been further fortified.

 

"This is just another indication that they really want to control what information gets to their citizens," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "From the standpoint of overall impact, it means that all communication going in and out of China are going to be more closely monitored."

 

The new regulations were issued by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. While users may still adopt pseudonyms for online postings, they will have to provide a real name to service providers first.

China.....1 billion population....:p