68 more porn Web sites closed as crackdown continues

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Chinese media) -- China's Internet watchdogs announced Tuesday

they had shut down another 68 porn Web sites, bringing the total number of

blocked sites to 1,575 since the national anti-porn campaign was launched a

month ago.

As of February 2, some 148 blogs containing pornography and "lewd" contents

were also closed, according to a statement issued by the office for cracking

down on online porn and lewd content.

More than half of the closed sites were from southeast Chinese provinces

including Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, the statement said.

"Further measures will be made to crack down the online porn and lewd

contents, leaving no space for them on the Internet," an official from the

office said.

The porn Web sites gained profits mainly through charging fixed telephone

or cell-phone users to log onto the site, the official added.

In early January, seven government departments including the State

Council's Information Office, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of

Culture, launched a crackdown campaign on porn Websites. It later extended the

campaign to mobile phone games, online novels, blogs, videos and radio programs.

So far, 41 people have been detained for disseminating porn on the Internet

during the campaign.