China imposes new Internet registration rules

China is imposing tough new registration requirements for web sites.

The Chinese government says that the new rules are to target pornography that is accessible on cell phones, but the rules could also hit affect other legitimate web sites.

The new rules will require telecom companies and Internet service providers to carry out checks to determine whether Web sites have been officially registered with the Chinese government, according to the Associated Press.

A report by Beijing News said the new rules could mean that all web sites, including those based outside China, would have to register with the Chinese government in order to be seen in China.

Given that China is the most dynamic economy on the planet, that would have a huge impact on thousands of businesses.

It could also have an impact on political freedom in China, a constant source of criticism for members of Congress.

During his recent trip to China, President Barack Obama called on the government to promote Internet freedom. The government has blocked the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in a country with 350 million Internet users.

Several media reports say China aims to create a “white list” of sites that would be registered with the government.

The new rules come months after China backed away from plans to demand that all computers in China be loaded with an Internet-filtering softward. That demand sparked criticism from politicians and businesses around the world.

In the case of the filtering software, China also said it was motivated to stop pornography.