China is planning to implement a national Internet identification card system, which is a separate identification card used on the Internet, from next month. CNN reported on Tuesday that there is growing concern over strengthening its online control.
According to CNN, six Chinese government agencies, including the Ministry of Public Security, recently announced that the “National Internet Identification Public Service Management Method” will be implemented from March 15. The core content of the 16-point plan is to introduce Internet number and Internet ID verification, which are equivalent to Internet resident registration numbers combined with text and numbers. This means that the state will come forward to authenticate individuals that Internet companies do.
China argues that through this system, “it can greatly reduce the risk of personal data leakage by the people and support the sound and orderly development of the digital economy.” An official from the Ministry of Public Security explained, “The goal is to provide safe, convenient and efficient means of identification to individuals to support the development of the digital economy.” Last month, Xinhua News Agency, a state-run news agency, said that 6 million out of about 1 billion people in China have already signed up for the autonomous service. Since last year, hundreds of apps have introduced the service on a trial basis.
The system started early last year at the suggestion of a police official. Jia Xiaoliang, deputy director of cyber police in northeastern China and lawmaker of the National People’s Congress, the legislative body of China, first proposed the system at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in March last year. However, experts point out that the system could be used to strengthen the Chinese government’s online control. “This is a state-led integrated identity system that can monitor and block users in real time,” said Xiao Chang, a researcher who studies Internet freedom at the University of California, Berkeley. “It is not just a surveillance tool, but an infrastructure for digital totalitarianism because you can directly delete unwanted messages from the Internet.”
There are also concerns that personal information may be collected by the central government, which could increase the risk of data leakage. Sun Ha-chun, a law professor at Hong Kong University, said, “A centralized and nationwide platform can create a single vulnerability in nature, making it an attractive target for hackers or hostile foreign actors.”
CNN diagnosed that in China, where the world’s best online censorship and surveillance system is implemented, the government introduced an Internet identification system, which has put Chinese people under stricter control. Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has strengthened its control over the digital space by deleting posts 24 hours a day, suspending accounts and blocking signs of spreading dissenting opinions through an organization specializing in censorship.
China is also pushing to crack down on online content that harms minors’ physical and mental health.
China’s National Internet Information Office said on the previous day that it would listen to opinions publicly on “Internet information classification methods that could affect the mental and physical health of minors” with related ministries. The online content scheduled to be cracked down includes illegal information that is harmful to minors’ mental and physical health, as well as information that imitates unsafe behavior or causes behavior contrary to social public morality. Specifically, it includes information that can easily cause sexual associations due to content such as sexual hints and sexual provocations, bad information related to cyber violence such as ridicule and demeaning, inciting discrimination against people, and content of regional discrimination. Internet service providers should not display harmful content to minors in prominent locations such as main screens, notification windows, real-time search terms, rankings, and recommendations.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
