China puts cartoon cops on the internet beat

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 29 Aug 2007 at 16:30

The Chinese government's struggle to regulate its citizens' internet usage has taken a turn for the cute with the deployment of two cartoon cops to patrol internet screens.

The two cartoon police officers will walk, cycle and drive across surfers' screens, warning them via text balloons to stay away from restricted content, while encouraging them to turn over those not abiding by the country's censorship rules.

Citizens that feel the burning need to report potential subversive acts will be able to access the government's website with one click on the cartoons.

The computer crime-fighters will initially be patrolling China's 13 most popular internet portals, including Soku and Sina, but the government says their patrols will cover all websites registered in China by the end of the year.

Chinese authorities habitually block surfers from accessing foreign sites and closely monitors the internet for material banned by the ruling Communist Party, including pornography, gambling sites, outlawed books and pirated music and movies.

China currently boasts the world's second largest number of internet users, with an estimated 137 million people online.