China steps up fight against online porn

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-30 20:33

BEIJING: China's ongoing war against Internet pornography and prostitution is to be ramped up, said the Ministry of Public Security Thursday.

The crackdown between August and October will be conducted by nine government and Communist Party departments, involving police, publicity, health, information technology, banking, and radio, film and television.

They will target porn websites which set up servers abroad and do business inside China, websites which organize pornographic performances and prostitution, as well as fake porn websites which cheat prospective subscribers.

The move will also crack down on websites which spread porn through WAP services to cell phones, organizations and individuals who advertise on porn sites, and organizations which provide online payment services to these websites.

Others on the hit list are service providers who provide overseas servers for domestic porn websites, adult product retail websites and social video websites which set up links to porn websites.

Further, the crackdown will also target search engines that do not filter pornography, mobile phone service providers and third-party e-commerce payment providers that provide illegal services, advertising companies using porn websites, domain name registration organizations which do not record correct information and telecom firms that do not keep log files.

"During the move, we will not only aim to target serious online porn crimes but also cut the chain that implicates service providers, advertising firms and third-party payment providers," the ministry said.