China has submitted several proposals to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN organization, with plans to standardize the metaverse.
The Chinese government continues to bet on the Metaverse to drive the next industrial revolution and transform people's lives through new technologies and innovations.
However, the Asian giant's plans for the virtual world are far from the principles promoted in the crypto industry. While many believe that the metaverse should be decentralized, so that it can provide equal opportunities for everyone, China is seeking the opposite.
Recently, the non-partisan political news agency Politico published an article reporting on the Chinese government's new plans to standardize the virtual world.
According to the agency, the Chinese government has submitted several proposals to the UN telecommunications organization, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to create a unified Digital Identity system that would provide each person with a unique identity in the virtual world.
The controversial identity system that China wants to impose on the metaverse
The proposals China’s digital identity guidelines, which were drafted by state-owned telecom operator China Mobile and reviewed by Politico, aim to create a digital identity system that works with each person’s “natural characteristics” and “social characteristics.”
According to the analysis of these proposals, the Chinese government wants to require the registration of a wide range of personal data, including people's occupation and place of work, among other attributes, in order to identify each user of the metaverse in the real world. All this in order to apply the corresponding regulations in case of any infringement, misdemeanor or cybercrime.
According to the agency, China indicated that if a person were to cause unrest within the metaverse, spreading rumors and creating chaos, the police would be able to quickly find them by having control over their personal data.
China’s proposals for a unified digital identity system therefore also suggest storing users’ personal information “permanently” and sharing it with the relevant authorities to maintain order and security. This is certainly a far cry from the interconnected and decentralised version of the Metaverse that it wants to build on the blockchain.
Privacy risks in the virtual world
Although interest in the metaverse has waned considerably since 2021, when Meta changed its name from “Facebook” to one alluding to this technology, the Chinese government remains focused on the virtual world.
In this regard, a technology expert associated with the ITU, who asked to remain anonymous, told the news agency that the Chinese government is playing the long game in establishing the standards that will govern the virtual world. “When the metaverse comes, they will say: 'these are the standards',” he said.
Meanwhile, Friends of Europe senior researcher in Brussels Chris Kremidas-Courtney noted that the Asian government was trying to replicate its social credit system in the metaverse. This system has been used by China as a punishment tool for citizens who misbehave or break its rules, banning them from accessing basic services such as public transport, the internet or financial services.
Kremidas-Courtney also commented that the unified digital identity system for the metaverse, as presented in the proposals drafted by China Mobile, puts at risk the principles of privacy and freedom to connect to the Internet, which have become a hallmark and a fundamental right for most people today.
In June last year, Ipsos highlighted China as one of the countries most familiar with the metaverse. Likewise, one of the most important universities in the country, Nanjing University, launched its first specialization focused on this innovation in September. Also, the Chinese province of Zhejiang launched a development plan with strategic objectives focused on the Metaverse, to guarantee its technological and industrial growth.
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