A bizarre new law reportedly approved in China’s Chongqing, a megacity of 31 million people, aims to “legally protect” children from parents “spying” on their computers and cell phones to read their diaries, online chats and text messages.
The law is ironic in the communist nation where Internet and cell phone privacy is not guaranteed anyway and billions of text messages and web searches are monitored and censored daily in the name of state security and curbing pornography.
Details of the rule and penalties for breaking it were not released, but
Chinese media reports indicated that children could turn to the police
if their parents pry into their privacy.
The Chongqing Evening Post reported that the Chongqing legislature adopted the law last Friday.
A China Daily report said it would be effective from September and parents would be “forbidden” from secretly investigating children’s Internet and cell phone communication.