China wages war on Internt chatroom pornography
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-14 09:31

China has arrested 101 criminal suspects since police started to crack down on Internet "obscenity" in August.

The suspects included people who used the Internet to set up illegal chatrooms that recruit others to participate in pornographic movies, the Xinhua news agency said, citing the public security ministry.

"This behavior has severely polluted the Internet environment, done harm to juvenile's physical and mental health and caused strong public anger," the ministry said.

The special crackdown was jointly initiated by the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Information Industry and the Information Office of China's cabinet, the State Council in August.

To date, 1,568 pieces of evidence have been obtained, from which 76 criminal cases have been put on file, resulting in the arrests of the 101 suspects, the ministry said.

Police are intensifying their crackdown on Internet "obscenity," according to Xinhua.

China's online population has grown rapidly in recent years from just 620,000 in 1997. With more than 100 million users now, it is the world's second largest Internet market after the United States.