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Crackdown on porn sites in China
China shuts down 44,000 domestic websites and arrested 868 people, a campaign that would continue till September when the Olympics end.
In a major crackdown on internet pornography, China has shut down 44,000 domestic websites and arrested 868 people, a campaign that would continue till September when the Olympics end.
Another 1,911 people linked to 1,609 internet pornography activities were penalised and 440,000 online pornographic messages cancelled last year, a national teleconference was told.
Authorities registered 199,000 websites last year but 14,000 were refused the Internet access for failing to get official registration or to apply for official approval, official Xinhua news agency said.
The campaign would continue till September, the meeting jointly held by the Ministry of Public Security, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and 11 other central departments, was told.
"Pornographic sources" were traced to foreign countries and regions while China was the "soil" for the growth of pornographic websites, a statement issued after the meeting said.
The crackdown would target those profiting from spreading pornographic messages through the Internet and mobile phones, porn-site operators in foreign countries and Chinese Internet users, organisers of pornographic performances online and clients of prostitution.
Websites dealing in audio and visual programmes, blogging, videos, point-to-point services and mobile phones would be under the scanner of the authorities, it added.
