Campaign in China looks to free Web from porn

BEIJING, Jan. 6 -- A month-long campaign has been

launched against websites that "spread pornography and threaten the morals of

young people", the government said Monday.

The campaign, whose targets

include Google and Baidu, is being run by the Ministry of Public Security and

six other central agencies, a statement posted on the government's website said.

Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the Information

Office of the State Council, said in the statement: "These websites violate

public morality and harm the physical and mental health of young people."

Huang Chengqing, deputy secretary-general of the

Internet Society of China, said: "Pornography is banned in China and websites

that feature erotic content are morally offensive."

Google and Baidu, the most popular search engines in

China, failed to take "efficient" measures after receiving notices from the

Internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material, the

statement said.

Web portals Sina and Sohu, and a number of video

sharing sites and bulletin boards were also said to have "problematic photos,

blogs and postings".

Cui Jin, a public relations official for Google China

said "finger pointing should differentiate between the producers and

non-producers of pornographic materials".

"Google does not produce nor own any content or

websites," she said.

The firm has always abided by local laws and will

delete links to sites if we are told they contain illegal content, she said.

"We have also adopted 'safe search' as the default

setting, which automatically blocks sites with such content," she said.

(Source: China Daily)