Internet portals in China -- including Yahoo!'s Chinese-language site -- have signed a voluntary pledge to purge the Web of content that China's communist government deems subversive, organizers of the drive say.
The "Public Pledge on Self-discipline for China Internet Industry" has attracted more than 300 signatories since its launch March 16, said a spokeswoman for the Internet Society of China, who identified herself only as Miss Sun.
The pledge's main aims appear fairly benign: promotion of Internet use, prevention of cyber crime, fostering healthy industry competition and avoiding intellectual property violations.
Other clauses, though, seem less innocent given China's tight control over information and the government's extreme sensitivity with criticism or political challenges in any form.
Those who sign must refrain from "producing, posting or disseminating pernicious information that may jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability." The prohibition also covers information that breaks laws and spreads "superstition and obscenity." Members must remove material deemed offensive or face expulsion from the group.
Signers also pledge to monitor content of foreign-based Web sites and block those containing unspecified harmful information.
The pledge conforms closely to government policies making Internet service providers responsible for content posted on Web sites they host. It's a strategy to give the Internet enough room to blossom while keeping operators on notice not to push the envelope politically.
The government has drawn up new regulations to boost supervision and control over text and audio-visual material published on the Internet, state newspapers said yesterday.
According to regulations effective Aug. 1, Web portals and other Internet publishers must obey the new rules or suffer unspecified punishments, the official Economic Daily said.
With the fast development of the Internet in China has come "a series of problems which call for more effective regulation," the paper said. The new regulations will limit the number and structure of Web publishers and call for their supervision and possible punishment, it said.
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