China urges Internet search engines to reject pornography
128307
China released a self-discipline pact for Chinese search engine providers to reject web porn Wednesday. The new regulation, promulgated by the Internet Society of China (ISC), an industry group run by the
761677
Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)  Beijing, 15 September: Chinese police authorities shut down more than 320 illegal web sites and Internet columns and deleted 15,000 items of hazardous information from Internet from September 6 to 8.
422382
China shut down 44,000 Web sites and  homepages and arrested 868 people last year in a campaign  against Internet porn which will continue until the end of this  year's Beijing Olympics, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.
491427
Bloggers reported that domains containing the word "search" in China were hijacked and redirected to Baidu, a Chinese language Internet search provider.
686467
In an obvious effort to keep its citizens from seeing content that it hasn't already pre-approved, the Chinese government is about to block video sites it doesn't control.
297134
Google Inc.'s recently launched news service in China doesn't display results from Web sites blocked by that country's authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to "do no evil."
180225
(InfoWorld) - The Chinese government took steps during 2006 toÂ increase its controlÂ and monitoring of Internet access by the country's growing Internet population, the U.S. Department of State said in a human-rights report released on Tuesday. "While the government continued to encourage expanded use of the Internet, it also took steps to monitor its use, control content, restrict information, and punished those who violated regulations," the annual report said. Among the steps implemented by the government are stricter requirements for Web-site registration, greater official control over content, and a wider definition of what constitutes illegal activity online, it said. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are published annually by the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. ChinaÂ has nearly 140 million Internet users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which tracks Internet usage in the country. The large number of Internet users has not eroded the government's ability to control access to content it deems undesirable, said the State Department, citing reports that the Chinese government employes "tens of thousands of persons" to monitor the Internet. "The authorities reportedly began to employ more sophisticated technology enabling the selective blocking of specific content rather than entire Web sites. Such technology was also used to block e-mails containing sensitive content," the report said. The Chinese government has alsoÂ enlisted the help of domestic and multinational companiesÂ to restrict access to information on the Internet. "Chinese search engines such as Baidu.com and the China-based search engines of Yahoo, MSN, and Google filtered search results, including those relating to the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and human rights," it said.
173136
China plans ratings systems for online games, books and movies to protect children from violence and sexual content in the nation's latest effort to tighten controls on various media, reports said Friday.
353329
Just in time for Halloween, Google&#39;s YouTube became available again in China Wednesday, two weeks after it was blocked.Although Chinese Internet regulators don&#39;t comment on why sites are blocked,&#160;YouTube&#39;s blocking&#160;seemed to be tied one or two events: the 17th Communist Party Congress, the Chinese Communist Party&#39;s most important meeting, held every five years; and the launching of YouTube&#39;s traditional language site in Taiwan, both during the same week in the middle of this month. The YouTube Taiwan site is also available in China.However, while YouTube can be viewed again, Blogspot is once again unavailable, one of several sites that see-saw between being allowed or prohibited. Although attempts to reach Blogspot&#39;s homepage rerouted to Blogger.com&#39;s simplified Chinese homepage, neither Blogspot owner Google&#39;s official blog nor the infamous Chinabounder blog -- which features the sexual exploits and political rantings of a foreign English teacher in Shanghai -- could be reached.Blocked throughout the recent changes&#160;is the English-language site of Wikipedia. Its Chinese-language site is&#160;almost always unavailable&#160;here.China regularly blocks access to Web sites that it finds objectionable, including those dealing with politically sensitive subjects such as the Falun Gong religious cult and independence for Taiwan and Tibet, along with some pornographic sites.&#160;
488428
(InfoWorld) - A photo that purports to confirm the existence of a new class of Chinese ballistic missile submarine could torpedo Google's aspirations in the world's second-largest Internet market. Users of Google Earth in China should enjoy it while they can. On July 5, researcher Hans Kristensen posted what he believes is the first photo of the Jin-class submarine to the Strategic Security blog on the Web site of the Federation of American Scientists, a nuclear weapons research and opposition group. The photo,Â taken from Google Earth, is accompanied by coordinates for six other Chinese submarine bases on the same page. Although it was the People's Liberation Army Navy that docked the alleged new sub outdoors, in full view not only of the commercial satellites that Google uses but also those employed by the U.S. and other militaries, that doesn't mean that China's growing blue-water force will take kindly to being put on display. The sub photo made headlines, with a story appearing on the front page of a newspaper called "Global Military Affairs Weekend," accompanied not by the Google Earth image, but a picture of a sub so old it looks like it fought in World War II. The article stated that the submarine captured by satellite was "China's newest submarine, the Yuan class." Google hasn't fared well in China, even before the sub photo surfaced. It trails rival BaiduÂ in the local search market, and earlier this year admitted that it hadÂ "inadvertently" usedÂ part of a database from Chinese portal Sohu.comÂ to create a Chinese-language search tool. The company has come under fire for knuckling under to Chinese Internet censorship policies, such as excluding politically sensitive results from the Chinese version of its search engine. None of this includes the other difficulties Google has encountered in China, including occasional blocking of its main search engine, the blocking of its Blogspot blogging site, the inaccessibility of cached pages from its main site, and limited access to Google News. In fairness, China isn't the only country that has had weaponry and military sites laid bare by Google Earth. The North Koreans must be thrilled that most of their naval bases can be viewed by anybody with a PC and a broadband connection. That's not to mention the new security risks presented to military installations in the U.S. and elsewhere, now that hostile forces, be they terrorists or regulars, have an easily accessible aerial view of each site. For situations like this in China, rarely is the reaction immediate. With Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games just over a year from now, China isn't eager to court negative press as it seeks to present itself as more open and tolerant. Its response may also not be so public. Despite being outed by a piece of software, Google's troubles will more likely occur if it attempts to expand in China via investment or acquisition, or if it attempts to move into other business areas, especially anything involving online video. A Google spokeswoman in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment on how the submarine photo may affect the company's fortunes in China. Â
193449
The Chinese governmentâs censorship of Web sites with no discernible political content has fostered a backlash.
118685
China beefed up its ongoing crackdown on internet porn on Monday with new rules published that allow courts to issue life sentences to those convicted of posting pornography online.
685270
Chinese are uploading more Internet videos of sex, scandal and protest. It's big business  -  and a headache for Beijing
436751
SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc&#39;s recently launched news service in China doesn&#39;t display results from websites blocked by that country&#39;s authorities, raising prickly questions for an online search engine that has famously promised to &quot;do no evil.
208542
China is blocking access to the Web site Google News, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday, and accused the US-based company of being complicit by filtering its Chinese-language site.
652394
China shut down 44,000 Web sites and arrested 868 people for Internet pornography last year, state media said Wednesday.
133853
China said it would issue new rules  cracking down on "undesirable" elements of online games amid  fears of growing Internet addiction as the number of players  soar, state media reported on Thursday.