International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency, is quietly drafting technical standards (named Q6/17), proposed by who else but the Chinese government, to define methods of tracing the original source of Internet communications.

A leaked document offers justifications that seem well-suited for repressive regimes:

"A political opponent to a government publishes articles putting the government in an unfavorable light. The government, having a law against any opposition, tries to identify the source of the negative articles but the articles having been published via a proxy server, is unable to do so protecting the anonymity of the author."

This potential erosion of Internet users' right to remain anonymous, which is protected by law in the United States and recognized in international law by groups such as the Council of Europe, has alarmed some technologists and privacy advocates.