Letting go of IP territorial properties affects geometry?
arts/
An era of online real-name system seems to be coming.
In March of this year, in order to effectively identify the true and false information in the Russian-Ukrainian war, Weibo launched the "display user IP territorial" function. Although it is a beta version and partial, it has also become a precursor to the release of IP territorial. . On April 28, the official Sina Weibo community management official Weibo officially released the IP territorial function upgrade announcement. The announcement stated that all comment IPs will be displayed, and the personal homepage will display account IPs.
In addition to Weibo, on April 29, the WeChat public platform, Douyin, Toutiao, and Xiaohongshu have also launched the "Display User IP Territory" function. In addition, many platforms such as Zhihu, Baijiahao, Douban and Kuaishou have also announced the gradual opening of the function of "IP territorial display". The IP territories of these platforms are also displayed in full, and the judgment rules are the IP territories corresponding to the users when posting and commenting .
The release of IP territoriality is like throwing a huge stone into the water of the Internet, and the "forced release" has caused controversy to arise, and how much it will affect, people still don't know.
Open IP Territory has long been signaled
The operation of releasing IP territoriality seems abrupt, but in fact there is a signal long ago.
On October 26, 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued the "Regulations on the Management of Internet User Account Name Information (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comment") to revise the version implemented in 2015.
Among them, the 2015 version first proposed the "online real-name system", which requires Internet information service providers to follow the principle of "real name in the background and voluntary at the front desk", requiring Internet information service users to register their accounts after authenticating their real identity information.
Compared with the 2015 version, the October 2021 "Draft for Comments" newly added relevant provisions on IP territorial : It is planned to require the platform to display account IP address territorial information on the user account information page: Domestic user account IP address territorial information needs to be It is marked to the province (region, city), and the IP address of the overseas account must be marked to the country (region).
That is to say, if the "Draft for Comments" has come into effect, the platforms may not seek users' consent to disclose users' personal information in order to fulfill the regulations of the Cyberspace Administration of the People's Republic of China to "fulfill legal obligations". It has not yet officially entered into force, which also puts a question mark on the publicity of IP addresses by platforms for the main reason of fulfilling their legal obligations. However, after this wave of operations, at least two things can be determined.
On the one hand, in an institutional system that does not consider data rights and privacy, it is an inevitable trend for the network to become real-named, and the opening of IP territorial this time is a signal.
At present, the Internet is developing at an amazing speed and in a subversive way, not only changing people's way of life, but also changing people's ideas, changing the depth and breadth of people's participation in political life and public life. With the help of space forms such as groups, circles, blog posts, and podcasts, the Internet has become a brand-new platform for people to express their opinions, and has become a veritable public domain for the general public. Its openness, interaction, and sharing are incomparable with traditional media and other public domains. of.
Based on this, the network public sphere has also become an important area that needs to be regulated and reshaped in the process of promoting the modernization of national governance . Announcement of IP territorial areas is conducive to preventing fraud (for example, foreign criminals disguised as public security organs to contact users), and facilitates users to identify false information (for example, domestic users disguised as foreigners to make remarks) and other needs. It can be said that there are public interest considerations, but also Enterprise risk control considerations.
On the other hand, this is the controversial "option". From a legal point of view, although the Personal Information Protection Law gives individuals the right to choose in the process of performing personal consent, in principle, it is not necessary to obtain personal consent for the performance of statutory duties or obligations, and other situations such as laws and regulations provide otherwise. .
In other words, exceptions to consent, i.e. processing of personal information without the user's consent, can be made in the public interest and are not optional. Specifically, if the "Draft for Comments" comes into effect, the disclosure of IP ownership will become a mandatory requirement, and users do not have the right to choose.
It is worth mentioning that the IP territorial is different from the IP address. The IP address is sensitive personal information and must not be disclosed directly. However, in this case, all platforms disclosed are the IP territorial, which is not as detailed as the IP address. Therefore, in the Under the premise of affirming its public interest and risk control orientation, this kind of treatment is also appropriate, and the "Draft for Comments" does stipulate that it is at the provincial level.
Three Questions to Release IP Territory
In the past, the virtual concealment of the Internet did bring great "difficulties" to management, and the proliferation of bad information cast a shadow over the healthy development of the Internet.
Especially for online hot events, online hot events often form a "preconceived" effect with the information presented at the first time, and how to clarify and refute rumors afterward is difficult to achieve the desired effect. This interferes with some mixed information and affects netizens' judgment on hot events.
For example, at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, there were many netizens who claimed to be in the place where the incident happened, and spread a lot of untrue information. Based on this, Weibo launched the function of displaying geographic location for this specific content. . This time the Weibo full-scale open IP territorial display, the Weibo site once again expressed that this operation is still to "maintain a healthy and orderly discussion atmosphere, and protect users' rights to obtain real and effective information at the first time." "Reduce impersonation of hot events. The parties, malicious rumors, rubbing traffic and other bad behaviors."
It can be said that the release of IP territorial will facilitate the accountability of the publishers of bad information, and can also impose responsibility constraints on netizens. But the question that follows is: is the release of IP territorial really accurate? Will it increase the risk of personal information leakage? Can the pace of regulation keep up?
Judging from the accuracy of IP territorial, after so many platforms open IP territorial display, some netizens find that their positioning is not right. In this regard, the official Weibo said, "The positioning is analyzed according to the operator's IP information." In fact, the creation and maintenance of IP positioning database is also a technical activity, which is a part of cyberspace mapping. Before this large-scale open IP territorial display, major Internet companies have already used it to do user portraits, customize personalized content, and protect their own business against traffic attacks and fraud.
Generally provided by professional third-party technology companies, they will cooperate with telecom operators and cloud computing vendors to obtain data and provide update and maintenance. And Internet companies buy databases directly from them, or rent query API interfaces on a per-count basis. In this regard, IPIP.NET and Pure IP data are relatively well-known in China. According to public information, Zhihu and Douban, which are about to be displayed, are both IPIP.NET customers. In other words, the IP territorial is still not absolutely accurate, if it is intentionally concealed or maliciously used, of course, it may cause harm .
From the perspective of the risk of personal information leakage, although IP territorial release can become a "broom" to sweep away bad information, and although the disclosure of IP territorial information to the provincial level does not necessarily increase the identifiability of users, if IP The territorial information, combined with other information about the user, may form a clear puzzle for the individual. This will also make various Internet platforms a "sweet pastry" in the eyes of hackers, increasing the risk of personal information leakage of netizens.
Finally, from a regulatory point of view, IP territorial display is only a technical means, it is impossible to solve the problem once and for all, and even to prevent secondary problems , such as how to avoid some people who are accustomed to publishing false information on the Internet from using virtual IP tools to bypass this mechanism. In this regard, regulatory intervention is required to enable relevant Internet companies to take stronger measures, such as establishing complete and systematic notification procedures and relief procedures, including informing users when to disclose IP territorial, to what extent, and after disclosure. What remedies are available in the event of a problem, etc.
From "anonymous" to "famous"
In essence, territoriality is not everyone's secret privacy, in fact, territoriality is closely related to the social relationship of each of us. Although people's possessions are public, this does not mean the disappearance of anonymity, especially in the Internet environment.
Specifically, in addition to the traditional real social relationship network based on blood, geography, and industry, the interpersonal interaction in the virtual space of the Internet is also playing a role in expanding the relationship network. On the contrary, virtual social interaction that is disconnected from real life provides more free space. Relaxed social topics and high-frequency social interactions are all conducive to gaining trust and intimacy in virtual space.
More importantly, unlike the real relationship that brings close interaction between the two parties, it also puts the constraints of real life and social norms on the relationship. In the virtual space of the Internet, people's social interaction and behavior must be consistent with their own roles. There is no need to have a high degree of identity, and there is no need to worry about role-playing failures. After violating people's role expectations, they will violate social norms in real life and be punished accordingly.
That is to say, the strangeness and anonymity of the virtual space of the Internet also provide people with more freedom. When any individual accesses the Internet and expands their living space, people still have the right not to be scrutinized and spy on, their identities not to be identified when they have nothing to do with national and social security, and their way of life not to be scrutinized. The right to intervene and the right to not be infringed on one's own personal interests, and on this basis, on the premise of not infringing on the interests of the country, society and others, to enhance the ability to do what one wants to do.
This kind of strangeness and anonymity enables individuals to enjoy "negative freedom" from being interfered with, thereby showing and developing their own unique personality and ensuring the inclusiveness and diversity of society. Even, as the German sociologist Yamin Nassési said, society can thus bear the inequalities and injustices brought about by social transformation, "because it relies on invisibility, not visibility; on strangeness, not intimacy; rely on distance, not closeness", in this sense, "social solidarity is based on strangeness".
Of course, these strangeness and anonymity were before the IP territorial disclosure. However, the disclosure of IP territoriality broke this default Internet "tradition", moving from "anonymity" to "famous", and the strangeness disappeared. However, the sense of intimacy and security in the acquaintance society has not returned.
It is undeniable that the online public sphere is inevitable, and the discipline of others and oneself in the online world will return to the boundaries that we have long existed in real life. The display of IP ownership is just an important step in this long process. The release of IP ownership is like throwing a huge stone into the water of the Internet, and people still don’t know how much it will affect.