Politech: FC: Chinese police order Net-cafés to install monitoring software

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

***********

Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2001 18:25:39 +0800
From: John Tanner <tanner () telecomasia net>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: Chinese police watch over Internet café users

Declan,

Here's an item of potential interest to Politech readers from our daily 
news site
(http://www.telecomasia.net). Not exactly a surprising development, but 
hey, with
John Ashcroft coming onboard at the DOJ, this could be a preview of coming
attractions (at least in Utah).

Regards,

John C. Tanner
Global Technology Editor
Telecom Asia/Wireless Asia
Advanstar Telecoms Group
Tel: +852 2589 1328
Fax: +852 2559 7002
Email: tanner () telecomasia net
URL: www.telecomasia.net

=================================

Chinese police watch over Internet café users

=================================

In a continuing battle to stop the dissemination of "harmful" information 
via the
Internet, Chinese police departments are now turning their watchful eye on
customers in the country's Internet cafés.

According to local media reports, more than 1,700 Internet cafes in the city of
Chongqing have been instructed to install software called the "Internet Cafe
Security Management System", a monitoring software application jointly 
developed
by the Computer Supervision Office of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau 
and a
local software firm.

The software prevents Internet surfers from accessing so-called "objectionable"
material, although no definition for "objectionable" was specified. Local 
police
departments said the focus on cybercafes is meant to ensure "the healthy
development" of the local Internet sector.

Chongqing's move is one of the latest attempts by Chinese authorities to 
tighten
control over Internet cafes.

In Beijing, a number of regulatory departments, including the Beijing Public
Security Department and the Beijing Telecommunications Department, have jointly
enacted new regulations that require Internet cafes owners to get official
permission and certification from local authorities in order to operate.

The measures in the Chinese capital came after city officials found that 
most of
the city's Internet cafes were operating within a gray area of the law, 
which at
the time, did not have mechanisms to deal with the new business.

Beijing officials were appalled to find cybercafes hawking electronic gaming,
gambling, pornography and violent content. This prompted the local 
government to
brand unregistered Internet cafes as breeding grounds for illegal 
activities such
as hacking, credit card fraud, and even international espionage.




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