China Bloggers Must Use Real Names
In honor of the Chinese government's announcement Monday that a "real name" policy would be implemented in the country's blogosphere, please allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Henry Gale.  I was a wealthy miner in Minnesota before my hot air balloon crashed in Shanghai.  Now I write Flumesday.  I realize the real name system, encouraged by the Internet Society of China, has not officially begun, but I just couldn't wait.  It's such a good idea.  According to the state-run Xinhua news service, "some bloggers anonymously disseminate irresponsible and untrue information via the Internet, bringing about very bad influences not only to individuals but to society as a whole."  Not this blogger.  Under the proposed system, bloggers would have to register their real names and personal information with the government in order open a blog, though they would still be permitted to write the blog using a pseudonym.  This way, if a blogger writes something untrue, he or she can be tracked down by the authorities and severely punished accordingly.  In a country with 17.5 million bloggers and the most blogs in the world, the ISC sees the real name policy as a necessary measure to "standardize" and "develop" China's thriving blog industry.  And by standardize and develop, they mean "water down" and "ruin".  China's blogosphere is the only, and I mean only, outlet for free and uncensored opinion here.  It's certainly not a coincidence that the Chinese have taken to blogs the way they have.  When the system gets put in place, surely the content of China's blogs will suffer.  So thanks a lot, all of those bloggers out there who publish irresponsible and untrue information, for ruining it for the rest of us.

•Reuters: China Moves Toward 'Real Name' System