Shanghai Demands that Tweeting Critics Submit Their Real Names

Imagine you’re an authoritarian government, and many of your citizens have begun to self-organize anonymously on a service that facilitates quick communication among one another.  Now, imagine that they begin to criticize your government for corruption and food safety issues.  What would you do?  Well, the Chinese government has such a problem, and they’re responding by demanding that users of the service register their real names.

The Twitter like service, called Sina Weibo, is one of the largest social networks in China.

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