“Public places with wireless internet access shall implement security protection measures in accordance with Laws,” the Beijing Security Bureau in Dongcheng District said in an announcement in June.
To Beijing’s store owners and Wi-Fi users – consisting primarily of businessmen and young people – the regulations are disastrous.
The so-called “security protection measure” is monitoring software, which records and keeps detailed information of Wi-Fi users, including the time of log-in and log-out, account numbers, a list of the web sites and domain names visited by users, and the system maintenance log. The system costs at least RMB20,000 (US$3,100) to install, and the establishment owners are expected to foot the bill.
Those who refuse to install the software and continue proving wireless services may face a minimum fine of RMB5,000 (US$775), reports said.
After the regulation came into force in Beijing, some business owners have opted to shut down the wireless due to the high cost, or simply based on principle. Furthermore, many customers have stopped visiting those establishments that have cooperated with the new regulations because they don’t like being monitored by the government. Coffee houses such as Starbucks told reporters that they’re already losing customers.
“It’s a requirement of the public security organs. Why should we pay the fees?” Yang Xiaowen, manager of UBC Coffee in Beijing, told the China Daily.
“For a reason that everyone is aware of, we are temporarily stopping our Wi-Fi service,” said the Beijing-based Kubrick bookstore, according to China Business News.
The new regulation concerning Wi-Fi is the latest extension of China’s internet management system that has been strengthening in recent years. The security organs started surveillance on public information networks in 1994, when China connected its information network to the internet, and it has never stopped.
Regulations started with internet cafes. Their management measures include: a licensing regime, installing security management software and real-name registration, so that all the web sites visited by internet users there are watched. In formal internet cafes, Chinese customers are required to register with their Identification cards, and foreigners with passports.
With rapid Wi-Fi systems available in regular restaurants, bars and cafes, those establishments have become more popular than internet cafes over the last few years – providing customers with the pleasure of drinking and eating, while surfing the internet mostly for free.
As yet, the regulation has not been followed nationwide, only in Beijing. However, Café owners in Shanghai and other cities have been notified of the new measure.
According to reports, there are more than 4,000 establishments offering Wi-Fi services in Shanghai. It’s estimated that by the end of 2011, Shanghai will be able to serve around 700,000 people simultaneously via Wi-Fi.
China’s Security Bureau contracted Shanghai-based Rain-Software to develop the new Wi-Fi security software, who won the project in a competitive bid. The company was founded in 1998 and has been cooperating with security organs in the development of such software in many Chinese cities. The company’s general director refused to receive any reporters.
China, which has world’s largest online population at 485 million users, has already blocked more than 1 million web sites – including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, and IMDb – with the explanation that it is protecting children from pornographic and violent web content.
