China has tightened rules for mobile app developers including requiring real-name registration and preserving users’ activity logs, the country’s internet regulator said on Tuesday, as Beijing looks to strengthen oversight of the growing app market.The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement that mobile app providers would need to fulfill six requirements to help crack down on “unscrupulous” use of their platforms to carry out fraud, distribute pornography and spread malicious rumors.China’s government already exercises widespread controls over the internet. It argues tough restrictions are needed to ensure security in the face of rising threats like terrorism, irking some foreign governments and business groups who say that the controls affect trade.

Mobile app providers will have to verify users’ identities with real-name registration, improve censorship and punish users who spread what the CAC called illicit information on their platforms. The firms will also have to save user activity logs for a period of 60 days, it said.The CAC said the move was key due to the growing role apps were now playing within mobile internet: there are now over 4 million apps in China and the number is growing fast, it said.

U.S. senator, opposing FBI email data grabs, places hold on spy bill

A Democratic senator on Monday prevented legislation from being quickly considered that would expand the FBI’s power to use secretive surveillance orders to obtain some Internet records, arguing it would lead to a “dramatic erosion” of U.S. privacy rights.Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon placed a hold on the annual Intelligence Authorization Act, whoch grants congressional approval for clandestine operations carried out by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies.A provision of the authorization bill would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use national security letters, whoch do not require a warrant, to compel companies such as Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook to hand over certain Internet records. These would include email metadata, some browsing history and social media log-in information.