Yahoo! News Home - Yahoo! - My Yahoo! - News Alerts - Help

Reuters New Media

[]

Home  Top Stories  Business   Tech   Politics  World  Local  Entertainment  Sports  Science  Health  Full Coverage
Technology News - updated 10:50 PM ET Aug 4
My Add to My Yahoo!
Reuters  |  CNET  |  Internet Report  |  ZDNet  |  MacCentral  |  AP  

 Speak your mind
Discuss this story with other people.
[Start a Conversation]

(Requires Yahoo! Messenger)

Friday August 4 10:50 PM ET
China Says Provinces Setting Up Internet Police China Says Provinces Setting Up Internet Police

BEIJING (Reuters) - At least 20 provinces and cities are moving to set up special Internet police to ``administrate and maintain order'' on China's fast-growing computer networks, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

China's pioneer Internet police force, set up recently in the eastern province of Anhui, has dealt with ``criminal cases, such as cheating, property embezzlement and pornography,'' it said.

Anhui's Internet Police had also publicised information about computer viruses and worked to develop Internet filter programs for young children.

Internet cops had helped local banks identify and close loopholes in their electronic information networks and trained volunteer ``electronic security guards,'' the report said.

Internet crime and fraud has climbed the list of China's concerns as its online population spirals, propelled by a surge in computer sales and an incremental drop in telephone and Internet access fees. Security concerns also stifle e-commerce.

The number of Internet users in China nearly doubled to 17 million in the first half of this year, the China National Network Information Centre (CNNIC) said last month.

The Xinhua report did not refer to policing political content on the Internet, perhaps the chief worry of Communist authorities amid China's headlong rush into the digital age.

China routinely blocks Websites of Western media outlets, human rights groups, Tibetan exiles and other sources of information it deems politically sensitive or harmful.

Stung by the spread of reports from unfettered Hong Kong media about domestic politics and corruption scandals, Beijing also forbids increasingly popular local portals from posting news reports from sources other than state-controlled media.

In the country's top case, Huang Qi, a man from Sichuan who published information on the Internet about the 1989 military crackdown at Tiananmen Square faces trial for subversion.

Huang could face life in prison if convicted on charges of ''subverting state power,'' the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights & Democracy said.

He angered authorities by operating a Web site, www.6-4tianwang.com, which published information on human rights and corruption in China, including the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen killings in which hundreds of unarmed civilians were shot.

In March 1998 the government jailed Shanghai entrepreneur Lin Hai for furnishing 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to an overseas electronic dissident newsletter. He was released in September last year.

Members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group have also been arrested for using the Internet to spread information about their faith and about government efforts to crush the movement.

Email this story - (View most popular)  |  Printer-friendly format

Archived Stories by Date:


Search News
Advanced
Search:  Stories   Photos   Full Coverage
Home  Top Stories  Business   Tech   Politics  World  Local  Entertainment  Sports  Science  Health  Full Coverage


Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Questions or Comments
Privacy Policy - Terms of Service