China’s national digital ID proposal fuels fears of government overreach

WHina’s plan to introduce a nationwide digital identification system has been met with criticism due to government overreach in a country that already closely monitors and censors speech.

Some legal experts and users of the world’s largest Internet market have openly doubted the stated aim of efforts to protect privacy after authorities Published the proposal last week. China’s internet regulator and police said users could opt for such digital IDs, which would allow them to verify their identity online without providing unnecessary personal data to internet service providers.

“The true intention is to intensify control of individual expressions online,” said Lao Dongyan, a law professor at Tsinghua University, in an X-type Weibo post on Tuesday, which has since been removed. Du Zhaoyong, a lawyer, said in another post that the measure will have a “destructive” effect on the free flow of information.

The Chinese government already requires Internet users to use their real identities to register for digital services and have broad access to their online behavior and communications. But a new centralized digital identification system could give authorities a more direct and complete view of people’s online lives.

Jeremy Daum, a senior fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School, said Chinese people may be more wary of this system following the use of health codes, an online identification system that China used during the pandemic to record and control the movement of citizens in order to contain the virus.

But he said regulation appears to be focused on privacy, not content.

“In China, privacy regulation is generally a question of privacy versus other citizens and companies, not versus the government,” he said. The proposed system “offers a new level of privacy where you don’t have to share information with a company, but the government, of course, still has access to that information.”

The proposal from the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security seeks to create a unified identity verification system that would limit Internet companies’ ability to collect data.

Users can voluntarily request a unique identification, consisting of letters and digits, and a digital certificate to confirm their identity. Internet platforms should not request other personal information after a user has been authenticated, according to the proposal.

Beijing has lashed out at internet platform companies for collecting excessive data, with the internet watchdog in 2021 naming 105 apps for violations, including ByteDance Ltd’s Douyin and Microsoft Corp’s LinkedIn.

More than 50 popular apps, including those run by Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd and ByteDance, have tested the proposed authentication system, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday, citing research he conducted.

The draft rules are open to public feedback until August 25th.