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One of the attractions of the Internet for some is the anonymity it offers, as the saying goes, nobody knows if you're a dog. In China, however, the masquerade ball is likely to soon end when bloggers will be required to remove their masks of anonymity. The Internet Society of China (ISC) under the Ministry of Information Industry has proposed that bloggers be required to register their true identities when they open a blog. "A real name registration system is an inevitable requirement if China wants to standardize and develop its blog industry," said Huang Chengqing, secretary general of the ISC.

Heated debate

Under the proposed rule, netizens must provide their personal information and identification card numbers to web servers but they will be allowed to write under pseudonyms.

The move has sparked a heated debate on the Internet and within the online industry, academia and officialdom. Supporters of the proposal say online libel and slander originates from the poison pens of cowards who hide behind their anonymity. Those against registration say blogging is a modern grass-roots phenomenon that is flourishing because people are free to express themselves without fear.

In a big bang-like explosion, China has developed a huge cyber culture, boasting more than 17.5 million bloggers, a 30-fold increase in four years. An estimated 75 million Chinese netizens more than half the country's estimated 130 million Internet users are regular blog readers, according to the recent ISC report.

While the blog phenomenon has created an unparalleled opportunity for people to express themselves and communicate with others, the blogging craze has also caused disputes involving fist waving vitriol, intellectual property violations and invasion of privacy.

"It (real name registration) will help promote a more civil discourse, which is now conspicuously absent on the Internet," said Huang Huang of the School of Government Administration at Peking University.

A recent example of how bad it can get involved an accused adulterer who was hunted down online by slogan-shouting throngs known as the web mob.

The cuckold husband started it by revealing some of the sordid details of his wife's affair with a college student. Thousands joined in the denunciation of the philanderer and online sleuths were able to discover and publish the identity and contact information of the student.

Even the young student's family received anonymous phone calls threatening "to chop the heads off of adulterers, to revenge the husband." The student's university was also contacted by anonymous writers demanding the school expel him. So far this has not happened.

"These online 'flaming' wars are facilitated by anonymity," said Huang. "Sheltered by their online pseudonyms, netizens see themselves as investigators, prosecutors, judge and jury but never have to answer for what they have done to the college student and his innocent relatives," he said.

The man who founded China's largest blog-hosting website, Fang Xingdong, agrees some things could be done to make bloggers a little more responsible, but he thinks real name registration is not workable. "The real name system will only lead to the exile of bloggers to foreign blog service providers as they (the bloggers) will feel their cyber home has been intruded and their right to speak curtailed," Fang said.

Fang's website, Bokee, the phonetically translated Chinese word for blog, which he coined, also faces a huge financial burden with real name registration.

"I need to pay 5 yuan (US$0.64) for every name and ID number I check with the public security," he said. "Just think of the cost for a website that might need to check millions of bloggers," said the man who introduced blogging to China in 2002.

With 10 million bloggers on Bokee, Fang's company could be forced to pay up for 50 million yuan (US$6.4 million) to authenticate the names of all its blog writers.

Fang believes authorities already have all the power they need to track online abuses. Just as Western countries track down child pornographers or other lawbreakers, authorities here can locate abusive writers from their IP addresses.

"The ultimate motivation for a real name system lies in bloggers themselves. This solution is a wide-ranging survey and public hearings are crucial before the policy is implemented," said Fang.

So far neither China's Internet Society nor the government has issued details or guidelines on how the personal data is to be managed, secured and accessed.

The average blogging netizen also wants to know just what the rules will be for getting past their pseudonyms and if a code of conduct will be imposed on them.

"If I register with my real information, I'll always be thinking there is some eye watching whatever I write and it feels bad. I don't want intruders in my spiritual fairyland," said Yao Rui, 25, a software engineer with a multinational company.

Her blog is a simple diary that details her daily life that only her circle of friends would understand and be interested in.

Alex Li is another ordinary blogger who is not worried about being attacked by the web mob. "Corrupt officials and law-breaking entrepreneurs are usually the ones who are singled out by online whistle blowers," said the 32-year-old tax counsellor. "The real name registration may cause whistle blowers to become victims as they could face retaliation for telling the truth."

Professor Yang Fengchun says real name registration will discourage grass-root bloggers from expressing themselves.

"Blogging is a grass-roots medium, which can help solve social problems and supervise government. Anonymity sometimes is critical for people to be able to speak the truth and express their dissenting opinion of the powers that be," said Yang, deputy director of the School of E-Government at Peking University.

He said that for thousands of years, Chinese society has not cultivated enough space for differing voices. "Even if their opinions are obviously wrong, as long as they make good arguments, they contribute to a well-balanced society. Harmony is not made with one voice alone," said Yang. "It is not what you say but the right to say it that counts."

Yang thinks the "real name" system will not be the quick fix to the vitriol that appears on the Internet. "If people are not allowed to talk here they just go to another place. There are countless portals, media outlets, and other web sites that you can write a blog on," he said adding that libel and slander issues should be dealt with by the legal system.

Professor Meng Wei believes the government should not punish everyone for the sins of an uncouth minority. "If people are required to register, the government must put in place rules to prevent retaliation against people who hold dissenting views," said Meng, research fellow of the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Rules protecting the privacy of identification numbers and other personal information were needed as were rules on protecting people's reputations, she said.

"The government should not be vague about its rules, and wait until someone speaks out before declaring him off limits and issuing punishment." she said.

Netizens should also use some self-discipline in expressing themselves and be made aware of what is fair comment and what crosses the line. "The blog sphere should be a force that promotes more human awareness and understanding," she said.