News Story: China demands internet platforms verify users' true identity

China has ordered the country's internet platforms to verify users' true identity before letting them post online content, the latest step by authorities to tighten policing of the web.

All social networking sites and discussion forums must "check the real identity" of their users before they can post online content and comments, under new regulations published Friday by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

The platforms will also have to strengthen their oversight over all published information, deleting all illegal content while also alerting authorities to the postings.

The new guidelines take effect October 1.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: China Escalates Efforts to Shut Down Unauthorized VPNs

Joyce Huang

In spite of an earlier denial, the Chinese government has tightened its grip on the Internet, stepping up efforts against netizens’ access to unsupervised connections, including those via virtual private networks (VPNs) halfway through its 14-month-long crackdown nationwide.

VPNs are third-party services that help bypass the so-called Great Firewall, installed by state censors to filter traffic between Chinese and overseas servers and block banned websites such as Google, Twitter and scores of international news media, including VOA.

“Some local services have been brought offline, some VPN apps no longer work, and the authorities are targeting other specific VPN providers,” Charlie Smith, a co-founder of Greatfire.org, said in an emailed reply to VOA.

The anti-censorship group’s earlier report showed that China blocked 135 of the world’s top 1,000 websites.

News Story: Australia flags crackdown on encrypted communication ahead of "Five Eyes" meeting

CANBERRA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Attorney-General George Brandis said Australia would be pushing its "Five Eyes" intelligence partners this month to crack down on encrypted technology in the global fight against terrorism.

Brandis said Australia would list the issue as a top agenda item at a meeting of the "Five Eyes" alliance, which comprises Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, in Canada at the end of June.

Speaking to the Australian media on Tuesday night, Brandis said encrypted Internet communication was the biggest challenge facing law enforcement and security agencies around the world.

Brandis called upon telecommunications companies, social media outlets and Internet giants to cooperate with authorities on terrorism investigations, saying they had a "corporate social responsibility" to help combat terrorist activity.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Beijing pushes 'China solution' for governing web

Beijing said Thursday it will push a "China solution" to global cyber governance after releasing its first strategy paper outlining a vision of the web where individual countries control the information that flows across their borders.

The roll out is part of an effort by Beijing to play a more active role in shaping the management of the internet, advocating what some critics have called a more atomised, less connected web.

Beijing wants "to put forward a 'China scheme' or a 'China solution' for the tough issue of cyber governance," Long Zhou, the coordinator of cyber affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters at a briefing on the document, which was released late Wednesday.

While China is home to the world's largest number of internet users, a 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

But China has maintained that its various forms of web censorship -- collectively known as "The Great Firewall" -- are necessary for protecting its national security.

Sites blocked due to their content or sensitivity, among them Facebook and Twitter, cannot be accessed in China without special software that allows users to bypass the strict controls.

This January, Beijing launched a campaign to crack down on such tools, known as virtual private networks (VPNs).

The campaign came after the passing of a controversial cybersecurity bill last November, tightening restrictions on online freedom of speech and imposing new rules on service providers.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: Analysts - China's New Internet Controls May Hurt China

Joyce Huang

China has intensified efforts to tighten its strong grip on the internet, officially outlawing unauthorized internet connections, including virtual private network (VPN) services, which enable many users there to bypass the country’s infamous “Great Firewall.”

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced in a notice Sunday that all special connections through internet data centers (IDCs), internet service providers (ISPs), content delivery networks (CDNs) and VPNs, operating from within China, are now required to secure prior government approval.

Such operators will have until the end of March to commit in writing to abide by the new regulations and be tested to ensure full compliance before the year’s end. If they are found not to be in compliance, their unregulated operations will be shut down from next year on, the notice added.

News Story: China cracks down on bids to bypass online censorship

China has announced a 14-month campaign to "clean up" internet service providers and crack down on devices such as virtual private networks (VPNs) used to evade strict censorship.

The ruling Communist party oversees a vast apparatus designed to censor online content deemed politically sensitive, while blocking some Western websites and the services of internet giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google.

It passed a controversial cybersecurity bill last November, tightening restrictions on online freedom of speech and imposing new rules on service providers.

But companies and individuals often use VPNs to access the unfettered internet beyond China's "Great Firewall".

Telecom and internet service providers will no longer be allowed to set up or rent special lines such as VPNs without official approval, the ministry of industry and information technology said Sunday.

Its "clean up" campaign would last through March 2018, it said in a statement on its website.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Report: Global Internet Continues to Become Less Free

Doug Bernard

WASHINGTON — For the sixth year in a row, the global internet became less free as governments around the world re-doubled efforts to limit free expression, ban encryption technologies, and punish users for posting or sharing material deemed unacceptable by national authorities.

Those are just a few of the findings of the annual "Freedom on the Net" report published by Freedom House, a pro-democracy think tank in Washington D.C.

Freedom House researchers now estimate that just over two-thirds of all internet users in the world live in nations that actively restrict online activity and where users face harsh penalties for their posts, including prison and whippings.

The survey of 65 nations determined that China, Iran, Syria and Ethiopia were the greatest abusers of internet freedoms, followed by Uzbekistan, Cuba, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Some nations, including North Korea which has a long record of flagrant human rights abuses, were not included.

Among the nations that saw the biggest declines were Uganda, Bangladesh and Cambodia. Only 14 nations saw marginal improvements. Just three nations - China, India, and the U.S. - account for roughly 40 percent of all the world's online users.