5 July, 2012

On June 7, 2012, the State Internet Information Office and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly published the draft amendment to the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services. The public is permitted to submit comments on the draft until July 6, 2012. According to the draft amendment, service providers must obtain a license from the relevant Internet information content administration department in order to engage in online forum, blog, micro-blog or information searching services. Internet users who release information to the public through fora, blogs, micro-blogs or other platforms must use their real identities for registration. Information published by users and Internet information service providers must be kept by the Internet information service provider for 6 months and log information shall be kept for 12 months. Internet access services and information service providers must keep personal information of Internet users and the log information confidential and are prohibited from selling, distorting, deliberately disclosing or illegally using such information.

The full Chinese text of the draft amendment is available here.

For further information, please contact:

Elizabeth Cole, Partner, Orrick