Living in a digital world

Chinese cartoon cybercops warn of illegal internet content

Officials in China have announced that, starting this weekend, the cartoon police officers shown above will appear on the country’s 13 most popular web sites to warn users to avoid unapproved websites and encourage them to report anyone not abiding by the country’s censorship rules. Their beat will apparently extend to all websites registered in China by the end of the year.

According to a report in the Telegraph, “They will be on the watch for websites that incite secession, promote superstition, gambling and fraud”.

While this latest initiative is being promoted as a reassuring presence for web users, elsewhere in the world it is being seen as just another attempt to restrict internet use and remind Chinese internet users (of which there are an estimated 137 million – second only to the US, who they are on track to exceed within the next two years) that they are being watched.

August 31, 2007 Posted by Bryan | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment