Net Nanny Follies

18,401 websites shut down

Last week Danwei republished some annoyed comments from Chinese bloggers who reported that thousands of websites and servers have been shut down this month, presumably in the run-up to the 17th Party Congress when all netizens should be aware that this is not the time to engage in any horseplay about 'sensitive' subjects.

Tuesday's Shanghai Daily confirmed the blogger's reports but said that most of the shutdowns were because of pornographic content:

China disconnects 18,400 illegal Websites

China blocked access to 18,401 illegal Websites during a nationwide campaign against online pornography that started in April, an industry newspaper reported today.

A total of 9,593 unregistered Websites were shut down while 8,808 Websites were closed for disseminating pornographic, illicit or fraudulent pictures and information on the Internet, said Miao Wei, deputy general manager of China Telecom, the country's biggest telecommunication carrier, which was involved in the campaign.

The campaign was launched by the Ministry of Public Security and nine other departments on April 12, the Communication and Information News said.

The campaign also required major Chinese portals, including sina.com, sohu.com, 163.com and qq.com, to conduct self-examinations and shut down problematic channels.

China now has almost 162 million Internet users, and the figure is growing by eight percent a year, according to the report.

It also added that the number of Chinese-language pornographic Websites was estimated at 500,000 around the world, while there are around two million English porn sites, the report said.

Online fraud is also becoming rampant, the report noted.

Shangdong police last month cracked China's biggest online pyramid sales scam, which involved 170,000 people and 1.36 billion yuan (US$180 million).

On August 30, the Ministry of Information Industry also ordered main search engines, including Baidu, Google, Yahoo, Zhongsou, Sina and Sogou, to remove "illegal and unhealthy information" from their search results.

The Shanghai Daily is controlled by that city's government.

In 2003, your correspondent was involved in a deal for a Chinese company to take over the operations of the newspaper; the final approval for the deal had to come from Chen Liangyu, the mayor and Party secretary who is now in jail on corruption charges.

In 2005, the magazine was revamped with some involvement and investment from Kerry Stokes, owner of Australia's Seven network. The newspaper has been steadily improving since then, and often manages to report real news.

There are currently 3 Comments for 18,401 websites shut down.

Comments on 18,401 websites shut down

A porn post without a reference to Skinhua?

8000 porn websites shut down, and "Foreign actresses urgently needed in Beijing".
I thought the two might be connected for a moment.

So the Shanghai Daily is the magazine referred to in the last paragraph of this post?

Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Diamond Hill by Feng Chi-shun: Feng's memoir Diamond Hill describes an era of gambling and gangsters, Suzie Wong and squatter villages, fires and food stalls, and the Kowloon Walled City and its white powder. "A time when people were poor, but life was rich," he says. The world that he grew up in no longer exists, but his book - the first ever on the Diamond Hill refugee settlement, in either Chinese or English - offers a candid picture of what life was like for most Hong Kong residents in the 1950s.
William A. Callahan's China: The Pessoptimist Nation: China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through a careful analysis of how Chinese people understand their new place in the world, the book charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics.
The WTO ruling: a half victory at best: In August 2009, a World Trade Organization panel ruled against China's system of monopoly control over entertainment products. Was this the victory supporters hailed as the dawn of a new day for American and global entertainment companies in the China market?
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)
+ Some questions about SARFT's full-stop for Red Question Mark (2007.09): SARFT axes Red Question Mark (红问号). He Dong (何东) responds.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30