In China, Fedoraproject weibo account is the only social network account we can use in China for promotion. It was registered with legal # fedoraproject.org in the early days as organization account. Since it has not been verified for a long time, the weibo account is now dropped back to personal account earlier (maybe since 2015). Now due to legal changes in China, in order to use network services, we need to authenticate the network service with either our ID, or a mobile number.Otherwise the service is suspended. So we've been not able to use the weibo account since last December.
legal # fedoraproject.org
US mobile number is allowed by weibo. So we want to try if Google Voice works. In this way, we will ask some Fedora contributor to help us active a Google Voice number, and then we authenticate the Weibo account with the Google Voice number. Pro: This costs nothing at the moment. And easy to transfer if weibo account will be maintained by someone else. And it do not need a ID. Con: If we lost the Google Voice number, it would be an issue.
In this way, I need to buy a SIM with my own identity. And all related legal issue should be dealt myself. Pro: No risk of loss to the number Con: Takes quiet some paper work to transfer if I am no longer maintaining the weibo account. And I have to take sole legal responsibility for everything happened on the account. Besides, it will take about CNY120 (a little less than USD 20 ) per year.
We prefer Google Voice way first and Chine SIM card way is a fallback.
We need your ideas/approvals before raise this to council.
Metadata Update from @zsun: - Issue assigned to zsun
Metadata Update from @zsun: - Issue tagged with: need-comments
Getting approval for the proposed solution
Any updates??
Metadata Update from @zsun: - Issue tagged with: meeting
@zsun I am trying to find a third option here.
Ping...!?
No updates yet. I did not hear any thing from APAC so this still not go to Council. The suggestion of bundling to Red Hat weibo is confirmed not to solve any current problem, but bring more paper work. I remember I see someone asking me if a Chinese mobile number helps. Yes, but it will bundle the account to a Chinese ID in that way, and the ID behind the account can never change. So currently active it with a Google Voice number is still the best option.
Hi @zsun,
I just found a service https://jmp.chat/ that will give you a US phone number and forward SMS to a XMPP account. It will free for 30 days trial. It will help?
No, we need a long term fixed number.
third option RH office Beijing buys a mobile number and gets legally responsible for it ;) Or is it forbidden for cooperations in China to own mobile numbers?
Again as soon as it is bundled to a Chinese mobile number, it should be bundled to a Chinese ID card, and that ID behind the account cannot change. Even if it is registered to be a 'Company' account, it should be bundled to an individual ID as the de facto operator. I will drop this ticket as WON'TFIX since there is never anything useful till now for the past 3 months.
Metadata Update from @zsun: - Issue untagged with: meeting, need-comments - Issue close_status updated to: Invalid - Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)
Again as soon as it is bundled to a Chinese mobile number, it should be bundled to a Chinese ID card, and that ID behind the account cannot change. Even if it is registered to be a 'Company' account, it should be bundled to an individual ID as the de facto operator.
Ah I see why people are still thinking of using Chinese mobile. By the time I submit the ticket, it is still possible to just bundle to a mobile number. But now it asks a Chinese ID in addition to a Chinese mobile number.
Metadata Update from @zsun: - Issue status updated to: Open (was: Closed)
I am bring this up again. Right now we cannot use any Chinese mobile number, as by using Chinese mobile number, we are asked to provide our identity so the weibo account will be tight to a specific person afterwards, which isn't a good solution.
As the weibo account has been quiet for more than 2 years, and that is our only local SNS media we can use now, I am here again to ask for feedbacks and/or approvals.
I'm +1 for a foreign mobile number, either via Google voice or other means, since it is of less hassle.
Besides, I suggest we adopt lazy consensus, i.e. no objection in a given time period (e.g. two weeks) or at the IRC meeting means approval.
@zsun can you verify that we can still do a registration with a foreign number in case hte rules have changed. I am in hte council hack this week so I will try to get this on the agenda as it is an unusual request.
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