A new internet tool was launched in China to tighten regulation on ‘‘sensitive’’ internet content, further threatening the ability of Chinese internet users to access information.

|PIC1|In Shenzhen, a city in southern China closest to Hong Kong, virtual police officers have been assigned by Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Internet Surveillance Division to patrol cyberspace, reported the state media China Daily newspaper last Tuesday.

On Jan. 2, the images of the “Shenzhen Internet Police” – a male police officer named “Jingjing” and a female officer named “Chacha” – officially went online for the first time in China.

China recently implemented new laws restricting information posted on the Internet in September 2005 by the China’s State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Information Industry. China claimed that these new laws were established to “protect the interest of the state.”

Among the content restricted or prohibited from being posted on the internet is religious news criticising the government – such as persecution news – and political contents the Chinese government considers sensitive. Banned political content include explicit or implicit criticism of the ruling Communist Party.

|TOP|According to reports, the two pop-up cyber police officers will appear on users’ computer screens whenever they log onto a website or enter a chat room. The virtual officers serve to “remind the online population to be conscious of safe and healthy use of the internet, [and] self-regulate their online behaviour,” a division officer named Chen explained in China Daily.

Six police officers will manage the two virtual and interactive police. Internet users can ask the officers questions and the officers will give legal information concerning internet usage.

China had 111 million Internet users at the end of 2005, an increase of 17 million from the previous year, according to an estimate by the China Internet Network Information Centre.







Jennifer Riley
Christian Today Correspondent