An online survey conducted by China Youth
Daily and Sohu.com between December 13 and 19 found that 44.9
percent of 1,911 responses approved of having to use ID to set up
mobile phone accounts and 42.1 percent opposed it.
China's 300 million mobile phone users have been
increasingly beleaguered by illegal spam text messages in recent
years, Xinhua News Agency reported today, and earlier this month
the Ministry of Public Security , the Ministry of Information
Industry (MII)?and China Banking
Regulatory Commission launched a campaign against them.
The?MII is drafting a regulation requiring
mobile phone users to present ID when setting up accounts in an
effort to root out illegal senders of spam.
Illegal messages usually fall into three
categories, according to Xinhua: deceptive messages such as lottery
winning to entrap money, porn messages, and rumors and information
about terrorism.
7.2 percent of those who chose to take part in the
online survey said they expected "real-name subscription to block
illegal text messages, even at the price of privacy and free
communication."
About 27.7 percent said they preferred privacy and
32.3 percent thought "there should be better solutions to filter
junk message instead of real-name subscription."
Other concerns included whether the use of ID could
ensure authenticity and how service providers could protect
subscribers' information safety.
Japan, South Korea and Singapore have already
adopted real-name mobile phone subscriptions.
Trial operations of the measure in east China's
Shanghai and Quanzhou City in Fujian Province have reported
financial losses.
(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2005)