Is it Possible to Implement a "Real Name System" for Online Chatting?

The following is a partial translation by CECC staff of an opinion piece reprinted on the Xinhua Web site indicating the debate within China about requiring Internet users to register on BBSs, news groups, and games using their real names. Click here for more CECC coverage of this issue.

Yu Guofu, legal consultant to the Internet Society of China, pointed out: "After there is a "real name system," if someone uses another person's name to commit a crime online, will it be the person with the real name who be responsible or the person passing themselves off who will be responsible? Yu Guofu believes that . . . it is unlikely that China will quickly implement a "real name system" in "one fell swoop . . ."