People in China may soon have to apply for licenses to travel the superhighway. Current and potential Internet users have already been ordered to register their details with local police in order to block harmful information and curb criminal behavior. A mandate from the Ministry of Public Security’s computer regulation and supervision department came as a part of a move to tighten control over information entering and leaving the country. Users must register with police within 30 days or face an unspecified punishment. It remains unclear how foreigners would be affected, but Internet providers, both state-run and private, told Reuters that the regulations were no cause for alarm. This will have no effect on our business at all, said Zhang Shuxin, manager of Beijing Information Highway Technology Co. Users need not even go to a police station. You come to our office and sign a deal promising not to harm the country or do anything illegal. That’s it. Executives at Peking’s International United On-Line Ltd said they were awaiting formal notification but expected the procedure to include a brief questionnaire about users’ education levels and other background information. The information would be available if someone came under suspicion of wrongdoing, said sales manager Zhang Liping. China is also attempting to restrict information coming into the country. The Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications is installing software to filter data from overseas sites that spread anti- Communist information and pornography. The edict is the first implementation of an Internet policy signed by premier Li Peng on February 1 that bans transmission of state secrets, information harmful to state security and pornography. But experts doubt the efficacy of the filtering method, which has been used more commonly by parents to control their children’s access.
