Need to give personal information like your name and date of birth when registering on an online platform in China? Even a scan of your ID? Concerned about information leaks after many horror stories? On 26 July, the Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China jointly unveiled their draft for a new scheme addressing just that, with “cyberspace IDs” issued by the authorities to protect your anonymity from corporates and “minimise” private sector platforms’ access to personal information.
The ”cyberspace IDs” proposed by the two departments will come in two forms, either a string of letters and numbers or an online credential. Neither have any plaintext indication of people’s identities. By submitting these exclusive IDs when registering or authenticating on platforms, the platform will not gain your personal info while still complying with the identity verification when required. The proposed IDs are voluntary and parents/legal guardians can apply for the cyberspace IDs for their children under 14. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Parents should apply for cyberspace IDs for under 14s” gained 415,000 views.
The proposed draft is aimed at protecting personal information from potentially unscrupulous platforms and individuals. The two departments are now soliciting comments and suggestions from the public regarding the draft. Before 25 August, citizens can make themselves heard online by emailing the departments’ offices or on their websites. Many Chinese citizens welcome the attempt to regulate personal information stored with corporations.
However, there are also concerns that the information exclusively stored with the authority might not be watertight to leaks. Of course, there are also fears that the cyberspace IDs will be mandatory in the future and cause more limitations on freedom of expression on the internet as a centralised authority would hold personal information on everyone online. With that in mind, pundits fear users risk being banned on multiple platforms should their posts breach regulations on one.
