By Star Chang, posted Sep 2, 2010 at 3:55 AM, 190 views,

China Demands Real Names From Mobile Phone Users

China will introduced a new system to protect privacy and reduce spam messages for their cellphone users. When people setting up their new mobile phone accounts, they are now require to register with their real identities. All carriers in China are to adopt the real-name registration system starting this month. Within three years, the carriers must also register the real identities of all existing users. In the meantime, many Chinese mobile phone users rely on prepaid phone services rather than contract plans that often require registration…

There are about 800 million mobile phone users in China, an estimate of 321 million user did not register using their real names. In China, there’s a large floating population from one province to another, therefore many users choose prepaid phone card services. They can conveniently buy a cell phone account in newsstands on the street without any registration. When the new policy takes place, the newsstands or any other convenience stores will be prohibited from selling SIM cards, violation will have a forfeit of $5000 RMB (about $735) for punishment. Implementing a real-name system for China cell phone users will produce logistical challenges for the mobile carriers.

Some Chinese users are concerned that the identification system may lead to their private information being leaked. Unregistered phone numbers could also very well become a more popular commodity. It will make certain Chinese user hesitate to get a new mobile phone number, if they can buy another number at similar cost that isn’t registered, due to the fears on identity security.

Source: ChinaDaily, Sina Tech