New cops virtually unstoppable
2006-01-18 14:24
Beijing - Internet users in southern China's Shenzhen city now have a constant reminder that Big Brother is watching them as online cartoons of police officers float on their screens to warn them not to access banned sites or discuss sensitive topics, state media said on Wednesday.
The Shenzhen Public Security Bureau's Internet Surveillance Division this month launched the cartoons of a male and female police officer, which are designed to appear whenever someone logs onto a website or enters a chatroom, the China Daily newspaper said.
The virtual police officers serve to "remind the online population to be conscious of safe and healthy use of the internet, [and] self-regulate their online behaviour," said a division official.
"The online community is a public arena," said the official, who was identified only by his surname, Chen. "Therefore posting improper material at will is prohibited as one single freewheeling post could stir big social trouble."
Six police officers are managing their two virtual images, which have interactive functions to respond to questions by internet users and give legal information, said the newspaper.
China had 111 million internet users at the end of 2005, up 17 million from the previous year, according to an estimate by the China Internet Network Information Centre.
The Chinese government carefully polices the internet, blocking hundreds of overseas websites that have political or other content it considers sensitive.
It has sentenced several dissidents and others to prison for sending or posting online comments that are deemed explicitly or implicitly critical of the ruling Communist Party or for revealing "state secrets".
Most of the hardware and software for China's policing of the internet is provided by global leaders in the information-technology industry.
- SAPA