The China Daily reports that underground internet cafes are the new target for a planned police crackdown in rural areas:
“Illegal Internet bars are harming left-behind rural teenagers that lack parental care because their parents are away trying to make a living in cities,” Zhou Yongping, deputy director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said in a national teleconference yesterday… Zhou said local authorities would confiscate facilities and equipment belonging to illegal businesses, instead of simply punishing violators with fines. Those found violating laws would also face criminal punishment.
Tao Ran, a medical expert on Internet addiction at Beijing’s Military General Hospital, said illegal cafes lured many pupils and middle school students away from their studies.
They could access unhealthy content, including obscene and violent images and even information about gun sales and weapons, he said… Phone numbers and e-mail addresses which people can contact with tip-offs would be published in middle and primary schools, city communities and shops in the countryside from next month… Tao compared Internet bars that allow students to access harmful content to the recruiting of teenagers into prostitution and drug trafficking.
See also past CDT posts on internet control.
