These are, indeed, sensitive times. Twets from @isaac and @roseluqiu tell of horror stories that posters on especially BBS forums will have their IP addresses recorded — by force, as there are no ways to opt out.

Not known is whether or not Twitter is going to be impacted. If this worries you at all, a VPN or other reroutes are your best options.

This recent crackdown in online forums, along with a plan to have real IDs made compulsory for posters by mid-August 2009, seems to be part of a concerted plan to “harmonize” the Chinese Internet in the run-up to the Big Sixty, when the PRC turns 60 in October 2009.