In defense of China’s recent practice of requiring real IDs for cell phone numbers, Xinhua News Agency published an article titled “How the U.S. Implements Real Name Registration for Cell Phones.” The article explains that U.S. cell phone users need to provide their social security number, name, address, and credit card information at the time of purchase, thus showing that the newly implemented rule is not unlike the rules in many developed nations. However, the article obscured the fact that the major cell phone companies in China — China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom — are all government-controlled, while telecommunication companies in the U.S. are private.
Source: Xinhua, September 9, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-09/09/c_12534295.htm