At least 10 major blog service providers have agreed to sign a pledge that asks them to register their users' real names and contact information, AP reported. The new guidelines, issued by the Internet Society of China (ISC) on August 21, "encouraged" the service providers to obtain users' names, addresses, contact numbers and e-mail addresses. However, the society said the guidelines were not compulsory. Service providers like Sohu, Sina and Microsoft have agreed to follow the new guidelines. In May, the ISC announced it would shelve plans to make all bloggers register their real names, citing technical difficulties. It said that users were still encouraged to use real names and that service providers would be held accountable for their users' blog content.