This article reports that “all mobile phone users in China will next year be required to register their identities in a move that has raised privacy and bureaucratic concerns, state press said Wednesday.From January 1,China’s 200 million users of pre-paid mobile phones will have to identify themselves when ordering a new card, Xinhua news agency reported Chinese Information and Industry Minister Wang Xudong as saying.Currently, only mobile phone users on ongoing plans who pay after making calls are required to register their identity. Wang said the new identification rules were part of efforts to combat mobile phone-related crimes and the fast-rising scourge of junk text messages, according to Xinhua.Sources within the information ministry said over 10,000 mobile phones had already been shut down this year for sending fraudulent, harassing or erotic text messages.”

China moves to identify all mobile phone users