China
January-5th-2009, 01:22 PM
China campaigns against online pornography (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0105/breaking43.htm)
Monday, January 5, 2009
China shuts down 44,000 porn sites | 23/01/2008China launched a major crackdown on internet pornography today targeting popular search engines such as Google.
Seven government agencies will work together on the campaign to “purify the internet’s cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors,” said a statement by the information office of the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
Pornography is banned in China, although the government’s internet police struggle to block websites based abroad.
The government announcement said Google and Baidu, China’s two most heavily used search engines, had failed to take “efficient” measures after receiving notices from the country’s internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material.
The statement also named popular web portals Sina and Sohu, as well as a number of video sharing sites and online bulletin boards, that it said contain photos, blogs and postings.
A Google spokeswoman in China defended the site’s operations, saying it was a search engine and did not generate any pornographic content. The company obeys Chinese law, she said.
“If we find any violation, we will take action. So far, I haven’t seen any examples of violations,” she said.
China has the world’s largest population of internet users with more than 250 million.
Click on the link for the full article
Monday, January 5, 2009
China shuts down 44,000 porn sites | 23/01/2008China launched a major crackdown on internet pornography today targeting popular search engines such as Google.
Seven government agencies will work together on the campaign to “purify the internet’s cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors,” said a statement by the information office of the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
Pornography is banned in China, although the government’s internet police struggle to block websites based abroad.
The government announcement said Google and Baidu, China’s two most heavily used search engines, had failed to take “efficient” measures after receiving notices from the country’s internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material.
The statement also named popular web portals Sina and Sohu, as well as a number of video sharing sites and online bulletin boards, that it said contain photos, blogs and postings.
A Google spokeswoman in China defended the site’s operations, saying it was a search engine and did not generate any pornographic content. The company obeys Chinese law, she said.
“If we find any violation, we will take action. So far, I haven’t seen any examples of violations,” she said.
China has the world’s largest population of internet users with more than 250 million.
Click on the link for the full article