Via Slashdot comes this (rather garbled) report from Xinhua which reveals the extent of the Chinese government's crackdown on websites.
China has closed 1,129 pornographic web sites since the nationwide crackdown began this July, according to Internet Society of China (ISC).
Since the web site www.china.cn was opened June 10 by the ISC [Internet Society of China], it has received 95,000 reports of pornographic and other illegal web sites. The related departments have closed 1,278 illegal web sites and 114 sites promoting gambling, superstitious activities and cult propaganda according to the information provided by the informers.
The numbers seem a bit hard to decode, but the is this: lots of sites have been closed. The report doesn't say what the reasons were, apart from the 114 gambling, superstitious and cult propaganda sites (presumably Falun Gong related).
At the same time, a new "self discipline pact" has been brought in to curb search engines from indexing illegal material:
The new regulation, promulgated by the Internet Society of China (ISC)... bars search engines from collecting, disseminating or linking to any websites with pornographic, illegal or inappropriate content.
Search engines must not provide services or set up any contacts with any of these illegal websites.
"The ISC should make sure that the self-discipline pact is wellimplemented to further crackdown Chinese web porn and promote a healthy environment on the Internet", said Cai Ming, deputy director of the State Council Information Office.
