New judicial cracking down on online porn welcomed
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Chinese social experts and parents have hailed a judicial interpretation of the crime of spreading obscene content via Internet, telephone and mobile devices, saying the interpretation promotes a healthy online environment for minors.
The judicial interpretation, issued by China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Wednesday and having taken effect from Thursday, is the nations latest effort to crackdown on online porn.
The legal document clarifies crimes involving the production, replication, publication, and sale of pornographic and vulgar content.
Prof. Li Meijin at the Chinese People's Public Security University said the judicial interpretation clearly defines the legal responsibilities for pornographic content for all participants, from online information providers to telecommunications companies.
Prof. Zhou Xiaozheng, from Renmin University of China, said the new regulations focus on the upstream of porn content production, and so will effectively solve the problem.
Qu Xuewu, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Internet is in the "Web 2.0" era in which every Internet user can be both an information producer and a consumer.
The judicial interpretation is the last line of defense to protect citizen rights to a healthy and uninterrupted online environment, Qu said.
Liu Hanlong, a private company boss in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, said many parents buy mobile phones and computers for their children for convenient communication with them but were worried about porn content on their children's mobile devices.
"Parents will be very happy that the legal document has articulated serious punishment for those who spread porn online," Liu said.
"We hope more such regulations will be made to protect children."
