Chinese porn sites raking in millions
/v3-uk/news/1981637/chinese-porn-sites-raking-millions
21 Jun 2007, Simon Burns , V3
Offshore operators of Chinese-language porn websites are making huge profits, Chinese government officials said earlier this week.
Compared to local sites, the foreign sites tend to have a wider variety of content, including videos, officials said.
"The boom in pornographic content on the internet has contaminated cyberspace and perverted China's young minds," said Zhang Xinfeng, vice minister of China's Ministry of Public Security, announcing a crackdown on porn earlier this year.
However, Li Jiaming, director of the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (CIIRC) warned that it will not be easy to shut down the overseas sites.
Chinese users pay to use the porn sites, often using Chinese online prepayment services similar to PayPal.
The CIIRC has persuaded more than 4,000 domestic websites to ban links to the overseas porn sites, Li told local media.
The move is part of a more general crackdown on online porn and other websites which contain content that is illegal under Chinese law.
Of more than 450,000 complaints about potentially illegal websites received by the CIIRC, half related to pornography.
China has strict laws preventing the publication of porn, but enforcement has proved difficult owing to high demand and the huge sums that can be earned by publishers.
It is estimated that more than 60 per cent of the pornographic sites viewed in China are hosted on overseas servers, and therefore out of the government's reach, the CIIRC reported.
The site operators are often located in China, Li believes, but are not easy to track down.
The government is attempting to block their sources of income by asking China's online payment system operators to review sales account applications more carefully.
China uses a nationwide firewall to block access to a large number of websites that contain content which the government deems unsuitable. Many of these are political in nature, but also include sites dealing with religion and pornography.
It is not clear why this approach is failing to prove effective against the thousands of sites targeted in the latest crackdown.
Do you agree?
Fair balance of trade?
"Compared to local sites, the foreign sites tend to have a wider variety of content, including videos, officials said."
At least this is narrowing the gap in imports and exports between China and the West!
Posted by Y Poon, 18 Aug 2008
Cultural pollution
Isnt this a sort of Cultural pollution?
Posted by Pafjk, 21 Aug 2008
@Cultural Pollution
@Cultural Pollution
The chinese always accuse foreigners of anything bad like this. The fact is that China is already full of this sort of p0rn, and those overseas porn site servers are probably operated by Chinese anyway!
Posted by Bateman, 23 Aug 2008
That's a huge market.
With the largest growing internet market in the world, you'd think the government would get wise to how much they're losing in tax money by not allowing these businesses to operate in China.
Posted by BigBorker, 24 Aug 2008
You are providing JUSTIFICATION of Great Firewall of China
All you foreign porn sites developers are giving the Chinese total justifiaction to errecting the Great Firewall of China
The govt. can just say "hey! we are keeping out foreign dirt! That's not about politics or religion or human right"
So, YOU are supporting the communists regime. How does THAT feel?
Posted by somalistudent, 25 Aug 2008
Foreign pornography
It is quite sad that US has 90% of the porn site. Most are racist. I can't image the harm that could do to a child in China watching Asian fetish porn.
I think China is fighting a losing battle. Since China is most on the defensive and the West has no moral values so everything goes.
Posted by Vic, 08 May 2009
in the east
porn in japan is actually larger than porn in the US
Posted by hamlt, 18 Aug 2009
Say what?
Porn is good. It make you calm and not rapist and keep you focus as good worker in office. it is the culture of the new humanity. accept it. peace.
Posted by Mind Expansion, 23 Feb 2012
Hypocrisy is the name of the game
I have lived in China for over 10 years and i have traveled that country more than many chinese.
The truth is that every single hotel in china has a built in brothel with hundreds of hookers each and they blame us for porn?
Posted by Regis Gasparotto, 23 Feb 2012