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Chapter 269 0266 [Blog Real-Name Registration Symposium]

Before the official start of the Internet Conference, Chen Guiliang first attended a "Symposium on Real-Name Registration for Chinese Blogs".

He has to go. Even if he doesn't go himself, he has to send a senior executive from the company.

Because this is similar to a group meeting!
A director from the Ministry of Information Industry, along with personnel from the Ministry of Truth, the Information Office, and other agencies, attended the event.

Although Chen Guiliang runs an SNS website, any website with a blog function is on the invitation list for this symposium.

Even the CEO of Cyworld, a company controlled by Koreans, was invited to attend.

The head of MSN China will also be there, because MSN's product My Space also has a blog function—QQ Space is a direct competitor to My Space.

When Chen Guiliang arrived at the meeting, he found that everyone had a serious expression and was sitting in their seats waiting for the leader to appear.

The atmosphere was quite heavy, and he was too embarrassed to joke around.

So, he took out his flashcards and started memorizing English words.

He said he's going to pass the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4) this year, and he's sure he will; he just needs to dedicate half an hour to studying every day. He passed it in his sophomore year of college in his previous life.

Fang Xingdong, hailed as the "Godfather of Chinese Blogs," came in with a cigarette dangling from his lips, puffing away.

Fang Xingdong is having a tough time these days. Last year, his blog network had a market share of over 85%, but now it's almost fallen below 30%. His newly added businesses, such as search engines and email, have all flopped spectacularly.

This shows that he has really fallen behind.

What era are we living in? They're adding search engines and email as new businesses.

Sina Blog sent Hou Xiaoqiang today, the same person who later managed Shanda Literature and Qidian.com for many years. His current position is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sina.com, responsible for Sina Blog's business.

Sina Blog's aggressive invitation to celebrities was a strategic decision made by its editor-in-chief, Chen Tong, but the actual mastermind was Hou Xiaoqiang.

Compared to Fang Xingdong's haggard appearance, Hou Xiaoqiang was beaming with pride.

Even though he tried to appear serious, he still couldn't quite suppress his smile.

Today, the person who came from Sohu Blog is Li Shanyou, Sohu's Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, who is in charge of Sohu Blog content.

Although NetEase Blog has not yet been officially launched, Li Yong, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of NetEase, has already arrived.

The person who came from QQ Space was Zheng Zhihao, who later became the CEO of Maoyan.

More than twenty people, including heads of blogs and social networking sites of all sizes, came.

Even the CEO of Zhanzuo.com came. Although he had decided to shut down the site, he was still conducting financial liquidation, so the site couldn't be shut down anytime soon.

The seating arrangement arranged by the authorities is quite interesting.

Fang Xingdong, once the king of the blogosphere, has declined, but due to his seniority and connections, he is still officially placed at the forefront.

Next are Sina Blog, Sohu Blog, My Space, and QQ Space.

Chen Guiliang is ranked sixth, behind him is NetEase Blog, and even further behind is the Korean guy from Cyworld...

Li Yong, from NetEase Blog, is the most relaxed, as their website hasn't even launched yet.

Seeing Chen Guiliang intently looking at something, Li Yong turned his head to take a look and discovered it was an English vocabulary flashcard. He couldn't help but chuckle and said in a low voice, "Mr. Chen is truly a diligent learner."

Chen Guiliang said, "I haven't passed the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4) yet, so I have to work harder this year."

"puff!"

Li Yong couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Zheng Zhihao, who was on QQ Space, heard the sound and leaned over to take a look. His expression quickly turned from one of amusement to amusement.

Just then, the leaders entered the venue one after another.

The director from the Ministry of Information Industry first introduced the colleagues from the Ministry of Truth, the Press Office, and other agencies, then introduced the enterprise representatives present, and thanked everyone for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend the symposium.

Then, the director said, "With the rapid development of the internet, problems such as cybercrime, hacking and virus attacks, and the spread of harmful information have become increasingly prominent. As the industry's regulatory authority, the Ministry of Information Industry has always attached great importance to this. Since last year, in accordance with the scientific development concept and the requirements of building a harmonious society, the Ministry of Information Industry has done a great deal of work in strengthening internet governance..."

"Blogs are a key focus of internet governance. Excluding social networking sites, there are over 2000 million bloggers in China, and over 1 million netizens have visited blogs. If social networking sites are included, the number is countless..."

"While blogs have developed, defamation, insults, pornography, leaks, and antisocial behavior have also become a concern, greatly impacting the internet environment and hindering the development of a harmonious society..."

Four months ago, the Internet Society of China released a draft of the "Self-Discipline Convention for Blog Services" for public comment. Netizens actively provided feedback, with supporters and opponents holding differing opinions, especially regarding the real-name registration system for blogs…

"Today, we have invited many comrades and business representatives to discuss the topic of real-name registration for blogs. We hope everyone will speak freely..."

Representatives from various companies looked at each other, none of them speaking first.

Chen Guiliang silently put away the vocabulary cards.

"Let me start."

The young man from the Ministry of Truth spoke up, saying, “Public opinion guidance is a matter of national importance. The atmosphere on blogs is terrible right now. There are those spreading rumors, those making slanders, and even those writing pornographic novels. Some are even spreading anti-social rhetoric! And most websites don't do anything about it. Plus, with online anonymity, it's very difficult to investigate and punish those responsible afterward. And because of online anonymity, these people are even more emboldened… Real-name registration for blogs is now imperative!” Fang Xingdong frowned deeply and couldn't help but express his strong opinion: “Real-name registration for blogs violates the basic spirit and laws of the internet. If implemented, it will be the biggest mistake in the history of the Chinese internet!”

That was a very serious statement, and the leaders looked extremely displeased.

We put you in first place so you could be the one to disagree.

The director said, "We also know that it is difficult to implement direct real-name registration, so the draft for comments released four months ago only stated that it should be 'anonymous in the foreground and real-name in the background.' That is, when bloggers register their accounts, they should leave their real information such as name, ID number, and contact information. Other netizens cannot see this information, and the public will still be in an anonymous state."

Fang Xingdong still objected, but didn't say anything more.

Kim Hee-young, a South Korean, said, "We at Cyworld strongly support the real-name system. In South Korea, online information used to be chaotic, especially with unwarranted attacks on celebrities, which even led to the suicides of singers and actors. Earlier this year, South Korea passed a law requiring individuals to use their real names when speaking on websites."

"In fact, Cyworld had already implemented full real-name registration in South Korea two or three years ago. Cyworld is also working hard to implement real-name registration in China. Currently, 45% of Cyworld's users in China have real-name accounts."

"Now that the Chinese government is implementing a real-name registration system, Cyworld will definitely do its best to cooperate!"

The leaders were very pleased with the support from international friends.

Several leaders spoke in succession, all praising Cybernet as a model of Sino-Korean cooperation.

Representatives from major companies such as Sina, Sohu, NetEase, and Tencent remained silent, waiting to see how things develop.

Shen Yang, deputy editor-in-chief of Qianlong.com's blog channel, said: "This is not a question of whether it is feasible or not, but rather that it is simply impossible to implement. In the IPv4 architecture, China does not have enough IPs; most of them are virtual dynamic IPs, making it impossible to bind IPs to ID numbers like South Korea does. In addition, there is no legislative basis to enforce it."

Li Shanyou of Sohu Blog said, "We can cooperate with the Ministry of Information Industry to guide bloggers to fill in accurate information. But we can't force them, because even if they fill it in randomly, Sohu will have difficulty verifying it."

The director looked at Chen Guiliang: "The campus network is now 100% real-name registered. Mr. Chen, you might as well share your experience."

Chen Guiliang said, "Xiaonei.com is a closed campus social network, unlike other blogs and SNS which are more general social networks. A student ID or degree number is required for a Xiaonei.com account, but this is just a formality; the main supervision relies on other users in the same class. If multiple users find that someone is not in their class, they can file a collective appeal... but even that has happened before."

"What kind of accident?" the press office staff asked curiously.

Chen Guiliang said, "Last year, a Peking University student stabbed his love rival dozens of times. I wonder if anyone has heard of this news?"

Several people present nodded in agreement.

Chen Guiliang said, "That student was a local from Beijing. Although he got into Peking University, his learning ability was actually somewhat lacking. He couldn't keep up with his classmates' learning pace, and over time he felt excluded. So he deliberately caused trouble. When the school held a dormitory hygiene competition, his roommates were all actively cleaning, but he deliberately made the floor dirty..."

"He did this kind of thing a lot, and gradually he was really ostracized by the whole class. Two-thirds of his students colluded to file a collective appeal, saying that he was not in that class and asked the school's intranet to ban his account. Since two-thirds of the students appealed, the school's intranet naturally determined it to be true, so it banned him."

"One day I was on my way to class when this guy stopped me, saying that Renren (a Chinese social networking site) was randomly banning accounts, and even showed me his student ID. So I asked Renren to restore his account. News of his murder spread, which terrified me. If I hadn't restored his account, would this guy have come out and killed me?"

"You should know that the rival he killed used to be his roommate. And she had no idea that she had offended him, nor did she know that her girlfriend was the object of his secret crush and pursuit."

"The school's intranet can only say that it has achieved 99.99% real-name registration, but it dares not say that it is 100% real-name. There are always special cases."

The director nodded after listening: "Achieving 99% would be quite an achievement. Is it possible for Haiwainet to implement a real-name registration system?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Hainnet's model is a combination of real-name authentication and anonymous social networking. If celebrities want to expand their influence, they can apply for real-name authentication on HaiNei.com, and we will carefully review their relevant documents. As for ordinary users, we have long guided them to register with their real names and speak anonymously. But for so-called real-name registration, if they fill in random names and ID numbers, HaiNei.com will find it difficult to verify."

Hou Xiaoqiang of Sina Blog said, "The biggest difficulty now is verification. Even if we spare no effort in mobilizing manpower and resources, we don't have the authority to verify. If the government wants Sina Blog to implement real-name registration, it must grant Sina the power to verify customer information. What power? The power to check the household registration system! Can the government grant that?"

The leaders were speechless. They didn't have that authority, let alone internet companies.

Chen Guiliang suggested, "Instead of having internet companies implement real-name registration, why not start with real-name registration for mobile phone SIM cards? Every mobile phone user should bind their mobile phone number to their ID card when applying for a SIM card. This would make it easier for internet companies to implement real-name registration on their backends. If a mobile phone number is provided during registration, verification can be done via SMS."

The leaders nodded repeatedly, agreeing with the statement.

“That won’t work either,” Zheng Zhihao said. “Many of our QQ Space users are junior high or high school students. Where would these middle school students get cell phones? They don’t even have cell phones, so how can they register with their real names using their phone numbers?”

After much discussion, no conclusion could be reached.

Major companies can only agree to cooperate with the official channels and try their best to guide users to register with their real names, but they do not force users to speak with their real names.

Chen Guiliang further explained the gray list and black list system of HaiNei.com, which aims to protect freedom of speech online while focusing on monitoring users who repeatedly publish malicious information.

The leaders highly praised HaiNei.com's approach.

Finally, the director said, "Next month, the Ministry of Information Industry will officially adopt the real-name registration method for blogs. The registration information in the backend of your blogs or blog-like websites must be complete. To put it bluntly, even if users fill in random information, they must still fill in their name and ID number! Your registration system must be changed by the end of this year."

Representatives from various companies spoke in succession to express their support for the government.

This year, not only blogs, but also major forums were invited to hold symposiums.

Even internet cafes are promoting real-name registration.

And what's with this "green network project"?

Even more absurd is Shi Yuzhu, this guy is too good at riding the wave of popularity. He actually said that "Zhengtu" will fully cooperate with the Internet Green Project, intending to make "Zhengtu" a green online game and resolutely prevent minors from playing "Zhengtu".

Luo Taijun's Bullog website is about to launch, and given the outrageous statements on Bullog, doing so at this time is practically defying the grain.

(End of this chapter)