There were 19.9 million internet bloggers in China at the beginning of November, up 24% on the previous year, AFP reported. A study by search engine Baidu found that 15% of bloggers post updates at least once a week, with 4.6% making daily online entries. While most blogs existed under the cloak of anonymity, the authorities plan on making bloggers register under their real names, raising concerns about the invasion of privacy. Huang Chengqing, head of the Internet Society of China, was quoted by state media as saying that some bloggers are a "bad influence", using their anonymity to publish "irresponsible and untrue" information. Huang said that no timetable has been drawn up for implementing the new policy and that the authorities would listen to feedback from users before finalizing the plans.
Categories