China launches new crackdown on Internet, mobile phone porn

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China launched Tuesday a new round of harsh crackdown on spreading pornographic content through Internet or mobile WAP sites to "purify the social environment," government sources said.

The campaign, running from December to next May, was initiated by nine central government departments, aiming to "resolutely eradicate pornographic and vulgar content on the Internet and mobile WAP sites and clean up the online and mobile media environment," according to a teleconference.

The targets of this round of crackdown are Web sites containing obscenity that "seriously threatens minors' mental health."

The authorities are going to shut down Web sites that "seriously violate law," punish criminals and investigate companies that profit from collecting fees for porn Web sites so as to cut off their interest chain, it said.

According to the teleconference, online pornography is still rampant and some Internet operators use obscene information to pursue high clicking rate and profit. "Their lack of social responsibility provides soil for the development of porn Web sites."

The departments launching the campaign include the International Communication Office of the Communist Party of China(CPC) Central Committee, the national office against pornographic and illegal publication, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry if Public Security and the Ministry of Culture.