"Proposed cybersecurity law will bolster censorship", 4 Aug 2015

The Chinese government should scrap provisions in the proposed Cybersecurity Law that require Internet companies to practice censorship, register users’ real names, localize data, and aid government surveillance, Human Rights Watch said today in a submission to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. 

The draft law will further stifle peaceful speech online, which is one of the only means people in China have to publicly express their opinions. …Specifically, Human Rights Watch is concerned that the draft law will: require companies to censor and restrict online anonymity; require companies to store user data in China; require companies to monitor and report to the government undefined “network security incidents,” raising fears of increased surveillance; and have inadequate safeguards to protect privacy.

Internet companies in China are already expected to censor messages, assist police in tracking down Internet users who post messages critical of the government, and require users to register with their real personal information, but enforcement of these rules has been uneven. Requiring them to do so in a specific national law may reduce the leeway and differing levels of implementation among companies that currently exists, which has been exploited by Internet users to get their messages out despite censorship…