A rights group yesterday slammed new restrictions in China on Internet use that require those wanting to set up a Web site to meet regulators and provide identification.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the new guidelines to local authorities on Feb. 8, state media reported on Tuesday. Individuals wanting to set up a Web site will have to submit identity cards and photos of themselves, as well as meet regulators, before their domain name can be registered, the reports said. It was not immediately clear if the new restrictions were now in use.
The ministry said the new rules were designed to tackle online pornography, but media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders disagreed.
“These new regulations represent a very disturbing step backwards for the Chinese Internet,” the group said in a statement. “The pretext of combating pornography does not hold. The aim is to tighten political control and get Internet users to censor themselves by bringing them face-to-face with their censors or their agents.”
Meanwhile, Google has posted ads for dozens of positions in China, suggesting it may be rethinking its threat to leave the country over cyberattacks and online censorship. Google is seeking to hire 40 staff, including engineers, sales managers and research scientists in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, according to advertisements seen on its Web site yesterday.
In related news, Oxfam Hong Kong said yesterday it had suspended a training program in China after notices allegedly sent by Beijing to Chinese universities accused the charity of having “ulterior motives.”
The notice, attributed to the Ministry of Education, said the group was trying to “infiltrate China” and asked students not to join the program. Oxfam said it was “mystified” and had contacted the ministry for clarification.
The ministry said it would look into the matter, but did not say whether it was the author of the notice, said Howard Liu, director of Oxfam Hong Kong’s China Unit.
The program, started in 2005, trained about 10 Chinese university students each year in the area of development work.
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