personal identifying information when going online, eliminating online anonymity. 157 The city of Hangzhou was slated to become the first in China to require realname Web registration for users to participate in local chat rooms or online forums,
but these regulations were put on hold in May 2009. 158 The momentum for realname systems might be stronger with cell phones, however. In January 2009, Beijing
Mobile announced that it would begin requiring customers to show identification
when purchasing its Easyown prepaid SIM cards (which amount to 70 percent of the
customers on China Mobile, the nation’s largest carrier) and limit purchases to three
per person. 159
Data Retention
In China, ISPs and ICPs must fulfill data retention obligations. Internet service providers are required to record important data (such as identification, URLs visited,
length of visit, and activities) about all of their users for at least 60 days and to ensure
that no illegal content is being hosted on their servers. 160 While 78 percent of users in
China connect from home, 42 percent of users also use Internet cafe ´s as a main access
location. 161 However, since 2002, Internet cafe ´s have been heavily regulated: all cafe ´s
are required to install filtering software, ban minors from entering, monitor the activities of their users, and record every user’s identity and complete session logs for up to
60 days. 162 In many cities, they are also connected by live video feed to local police
stations. The providers of electronic bulletin services, including bulletin board services,
online discussion forums, chat rooms, and so on, are required to monitor the contents
of information released in their service system, time of release, and URL or domain
name, and to keep it for 60 days. 163
Owned by Tencent, QQ is China’s most popular instant messenger. This service was
found to have installed a keyword-blocking program in its client software to monitor
and record users’ online communication, offering it to the police if required. 164
Filtering and surveillance are often complementary processes, especially when ISPs
and ICPs that are liable for the activities of their users delegate human monitors to
monitor and flag content for further review or deletion. Online communications by
e-mail and instant messaging (such as QQ and Skype) are also examined and monitored by the government. 165 In October 2008, a joint report by the Information Warfare Monitor and ONI Asia provided a chilling example of the possibilities for
surveillance conducted by nonstate actors on a massive scale. 166 The Chinese-marketed
TOM-Skype, a version of the VoIP and chatting software Skype, kept more than a
million user records in seven types of log files, including IP addresses, user names, and
time and date stamps in all the log files that could be decrypted. All these log files,
along with the information required to decrypt them, were kept on publicly accessible
servers. For call information logs dating from August 2007, the user name and phone
number of the recipient were also logged, while content filter logs dating from August
China
465
but these regulations were put on hold in May 2009. 158 The momentum for realname systems might be stronger with cell phones, however. In January 2009, Beijing
Mobile announced that it would begin requiring customers to show identification
when purchasing its Easyown prepaid SIM cards (which amount to 70 percent of the
customers on China Mobile, the nation’s largest carrier) and limit purchases to three
per person. 159
Data Retention
In China, ISPs and ICPs must fulfill data retention obligations. Internet service providers are required to record important data (such as identification, URLs visited,
length of visit, and activities) about all of their users for at least 60 days and to ensure
that no illegal content is being hosted on their servers. 160 While 78 percent of users in
China connect from home, 42 percent of users also use Internet cafe ´s as a main access
location. 161 However, since 2002, Internet cafe ´s have been heavily regulated: all cafe ´s
are required to install filtering software, ban minors from entering, monitor the activities of their users, and record every user’s identity and complete session logs for up to
60 days. 162 In many cities, they are also connected by live video feed to local police
stations. The providers of electronic bulletin services, including bulletin board services,
online discussion forums, chat rooms, and so on, are required to monitor the contents
of information released in their service system, time of release, and URL or domain
name, and to keep it for 60 days. 163
Owned by Tencent, QQ is China’s most popular instant messenger. This service was
found to have installed a keyword-blocking program in its client software to monitor
and record users’ online communication, offering it to the police if required. 164
Filtering and surveillance are often complementary processes, especially when ISPs
and ICPs that are liable for the activities of their users delegate human monitors to
monitor and flag content for further review or deletion. Online communications by
e-mail and instant messaging (such as QQ and Skype) are also examined and monitored by the government. 165 In October 2008, a joint report by the Information Warfare Monitor and ONI Asia provided a chilling example of the possibilities for
surveillance conducted by nonstate actors on a massive scale. 166 The Chinese-marketed
TOM-Skype, a version of the VoIP and chatting software Skype, kept more than a
million user records in seven types of log files, including IP addresses, user names, and
time and date stamps in all the log files that could be decrypted. All these log files,
along with the information required to decrypt them, were kept on publicly accessible
servers. For call information logs dating from August 2007, the user name and phone
number of the recipient were also logged, while content filter logs dating from August
China
465