Sina Weibo, China's Twitter analog, reveals users' locations and IP addresses

To the surprise of many users, China's largest Twitter-esque microblogging website, Sina Weibo, announced on Thursday that it will publish users' IP addresses and location data in an effort to keep their content honest and nice. In a post whose title translates as "IP Territorial Function Upgrade Announcement," the company …

[Pete 2]

Where does your 'bot live?

Publishing personal information might be effective in regulating real people, but what will it say about all the non-people who apparently maker up a large proportion of social media's more unpleasant contributors.

[Natalie Gritpants Jr]

Re: Where does your 'bot live?

Hopefully on the PCs of CCCP officials.

[Natalie Gritpants Jr]

Re: Where does your 'bot live?

Sorry, meant CCP, but CCCP would be inetresting too.

[TimMaher]

Re: CCP

What? EVE Online?

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

Re: Where does your 'bot live?

12 Cyberspace Avenue.

Or, in the case of one veteran Register Bot, Mars.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The stated aim is noble, but..."

"... a blunt tool usually has a chilling effect which affects all kinds of speech"

Maybe that *is* the actual aim?

It's not like the interests of the company and those of the government can be cleanly separated in China, and I've no doubt the latter may well have an interest in that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi, it is I Xi

I have decided I will no longer be offended when people call me Winni the Phoo, its cute, and all those people I had arrest and stuff, sorry. Also the hundreds of thousands of Uiger we have been harvesting organs from as we take their land for disney to make movies on, yeah, I'm sorry for that too.

This covid thing, yeah well, I'm not going to talk about that till its over, but same thing.

In short, I love you, and we will do better.

(30 min later the Rocket Force vanishes the impersonator spreading misinformation)

[nijam]

> not just misinformation

It's not "misinformation" they're concerned about, but "malicious rumours", i.e. the exact opposite of misinformation in their marketplace.

[JassMan]

It's not "misinformation" they're concerned about

Depending on where you live, one man's misinformation is another man's verified fact. The opposite is also true.