Jun 30 2006
China Steps Up Web Controls
From the International Herald Tribune:
China Steps Up Web Controls Published: June 30, 2006
(BEIJING, AP) China is tightening controls on blogs and search engines to block material deemed subversive or immoral, the government said Friday.
The announcement comes amid a media crackdown by President Hu Jintao’s government, with Web sites being shut down and journalists jailed.
‘As more and more illegal and unhealthy information spreads through the blog and search engine, we will take effective measures to put the BBS, blog and search engine under control,’ said Cai Wu, director of the Information Office of China’s Cabinet, quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency.
China encourages Internet use for business and education, but tries to block access to material deemed obscene or politically dangerous.
It has the world’s second-biggest Internet user population after the United States, with 111 million people online.
China launched a campaign in February to ‘purify the environment’ of the Internet and mobile communications, Xinhua said.
The government will step up research on monitoring technology and issue ‘admittance standards’ for blogs, the report said, without giving details.
China has 37 million Web logs, or blogs, Xinhua said, citing a study by Tsinghua University in Beijing.
