China employs virtual cops to patrol internet

In its renewed attempt to curb online crimes and pornography, the government of China will resort to cyber patrolling soon.

Virtual police officers will begin visible patrols on Chinese websites to warn surfers that they are being monitored.

The images of the ‘Beijing Internet Police’ – one male and one female dressed in uniform and saluting – will start popping up every 30 minutes on computer screens run by 13 major portals based in Beijing, China.

The cyber cops will be on the lookout for websites and internet activities that incite secession, promote superstition, gambling, fraud and pornography, the official China Daily reported, citing Beijing’s public security bureau.

“It is our duty to wipe out information that does public harm and disrupts social order,” Zhao Hongzhi, deputy chief of internet surveillance of the Beijing’s public security bureau, was quoted as saying.

The cyber police will offer a reminder that ‘big brother’ is watching. Also, web users can click on the cyber police images to connect with the internet surveillance centre and report suspicious activities.

Cyber cops first appeared on Chinese internet portals outside the southern city of Shenzhen in 2006.

According to the China Daily, the Web cops will help provide protection for the country’s sprawling community of 120 million netizens.

While authorities in China have introduced the cyber police as a reassuring presence for web surfers, it will almost certainly give further ammunition to critics of China’s attempts to restrict the internet.

In February 2006, Reporters Without Borders had accused China of spearheading an increasingly sophisticated movement by repressive regimes around the world to restrict the internet, using new technologies and old-fashioned manpower.

The media watchdog had said in its annual report: “China spends an enormous amount on internet surveillance equipment and hires armies of informants and cyber police. With China enjoying increasing political influence, people are wondering whether perhaps China’s internet model, based on censorship and surveillance, may one day be imposed on the rest of the world.”

China continues to monitor and censor all of its online content and the government already has human security personnel constantly scouring the internet to keep China’s online population “safe from harm.” As a most stringent step, China has tracked down several political dissidents via their Web-based claims and activities and thrown them in jail.

Currently, Yahoo! Incorporated is in the news for battling accusations of aiding and abetting in a legal case involving the jailing of a Chinese writer who called for democracy online. Yahoo! (Yahoo! China) is being sued by the wife of the jailed man for violating its privacy policy and providing the Chinese government with his personal e-mail history, which directly contributed to his 10-year sentence.