China's Latest Target For Online Crackdown: Live-Streaming Foreigners
from the I-saw-what-you-did-there dept
As we've noted before, China's grip on the domestic Internet seems so complete that it's hard to think how the authorities there might tighten control yet further. But the Chinese government is nothing if not resourceful, and has managed to come up with a new group to target, as this report on the Sixth Tone site explains:
Multiple foreign users have received suspension notices from major live-streaming apps, including Blued, China's most popular gay social networking app, and Yizhibo, which is backed by microblog platform Weibo.
This seems to be as a result of the new regulations governing the Internet in China, brought in at the end of last year. Among the measures there is one that requires online broadcasts to be "beneficial to the promotion of socialist core values", while another stipulates that platforms should not allow hosts from outside mainland China to create channels without first asking permission from the country's Ministry of Culture. That's where the difficulty arises:
According to an employee of one of the biggest streaming companies, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, the problem with the new regulations is that there are no details on how to apply. Live-broadcasting platforms have dealt with the uncertainty in a variety of ways. At the employee's company, old users are allowed to continue broadcasting, but new foreign users cannot sign up for the time being.
However, other services have decided to play it safe by taking all non-Chinese users offline until the new rules have been clarified. A Yizhibo employee told Sixth Tone that a key issue was a requirement for real-name verification -- something that Techdirt has discussed before. Apparently, it's not a straightforward process when it comes to foreigners.
The crackdown on live-streaming services is not the only recent move by the authorities that targets foreigners. Last week, China made another announcement, much more far-reaching in its effect than the live-streaming ban:
China is to begin taking fingerprints of all foreign visitors as it steps up security on its borders, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.
Perhaps the Chinese government feels that it has the domestic population sufficiently under control now that it can move on to tightening up the rules for foreign visitors.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: censorship, china, free speech, great firewall, live streaming
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Rephrased
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
China's Fingerprint Collection
It may come as a shock to Americans but the US has been doing the exact same thing since not long after 9/11: collecting foreigners fingerprints at the border. (Or rather whenever visitors apply for a US visa.)
The State Dept explains it on the following webpage
https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/general/border-biometrics.html
China is therefore merely catching up to the US position.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: China's Fingerprint Collection
Kinda sad when the Chinese are mirroring totalitarian policies the US has enacted first.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: China's Fingerprint Collection
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
"meremlt visiting a country"
Can we let Stephen type for you?
Lemme help you out my brotha:
Travel without a Visa - Visa Waiver Program - Each traveler holding a valid passport from any of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries, regardless of age or passport used, must present an individual machine-readable passport (MRP) in order to enter the United States without a visa. Depending on the date the traveler's passport was issued, other passport requirements apply. If a prospective traveler does not meet requirements to travel without a visa, he/she will need to apply for a U.S. visa, and cannot travel on VWP. See Visa Waiver Program and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website for complete details. Additionally, all VWP travelers are required to have an approved Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) before traveling to the United States
So... unless you come from a country that is in the VWP, you're not getting without a visa application.
https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/visit/visa-waiver-program.html
All your biometrics are ours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Forgot this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]