The China Reporting Center of Illegal and Unhealthy Information
(URL: www.net.China.cn) celebrated its first anniversary in Beijing
on June 10. All the attendees at the event agreed that the efforts
of the center in conveying public sentiment on unsavory material on
the Internet, clearing network environments, and promoting
self-discipline in the Internet industry have paid off.
On June 10, 2004, China launched the website for users to report
illegal or unhealthy Internet activity and material. It has so far
received more than 143,000 complaints, of which 67.5 percent relate
to pornographic material, 4.4 percent to cult activity, 3.4 percent
to online fraud, 1.9 percent to online gambling, and 1.6 percent to
intellectual property rights infringements.
The center verifies and sorts complaints, and has so far
forwarded 1,878 cases to the relevant law enforcement departments
including the Ministry of Public Security, State Council
information Office and Ministry of Information Industry. Of these,
1,264 were pornographic sites and 307 gambling sites.
Under the encouragement and supervision of the center in
accordance with various self-disciplinary regulations and rules now
in place against Internet abuse, various websites have also been
asked to delete about 100,000 pieces of unlawful and unhealthy
information, including more than 30,000 web pages that offend
social morals, and over 14,000 photos that are deemed harmful to
children and teenagers.
Cai Mingzhao, vice minister of the State Council Information
Office, Hu Qiheng, chairwoman of the Internet Society of China,
and officials from related departments of the Public Security
Ministry and Information Industry Ministry attended the event.
The safesurf website was created as a result of appeals from the
public and has received much public support since, according to
Cai. "The large number of complaints received during the year shows
the public’s obvious revulsion for illegal and unhealthy Internet
activity and material. The website has treated each complaint
carefully and played a significant role in law enforcement
departments’ campaigns against pornographic websites and online
gambling. It opens a new channel for the public to participate in
the maintenance of order in Internet information
dissemination."
Representatives of well-known Chinese websites and Internet user
groups, the press and officials from related government departments
also attended the event.
(China.org.cn by Chen Qiuping June 10, 2005)
