The Chinese internet is all atwitter with word that Weibo accounts on Sina, Tencent, Sohu and NetEase will require real name and ID registration by March 16.
Authorities claim that real-name registrations are necessary to curb salacious and downright false rumors, but then again, isn't that why we sign up to these things in the first place?
Currently, only those who haven't signed up to yet needed to bother with real name registrations, but next month, it appears we all have to do this or be "denied posting and forwarding capabilities." Lurk, in other words, but no writing.
The government demands on Weibo have led to a sharp drop in registration numbers. Is this the end for the free-wheeling, snarky Chinese netizen? Will muckraking ChinaSmack have trouble scraping the bottom of the barrel for new content?
Most pressing for China-based expats is the dearth of information on how we're supposed to prove our identities. We're guessing it's going to be linked to our passports somehow, but will Sina Weibo or its ilk really be able to authenticate the identities of Weibo users worldwide?
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