Police in east China have arrested or warned up to 60 people this year for spreading rumours by SMS or the Internet, and has specified the threat of modern communications to society, state media reports.
China has an army of cyber-police who patrol the internet for 'improper' content, but their targets are more often politically sensitive subjects rather than pornography.
Xia Cunxi, a public security spokesman in the eastern province of Jiangsu, said 60 were accused of spreading rumours, lies or offensive messages, the official China Daily said in its online edition.
"Rumours spread by modern means of communication can be a greater menace to society than those spread by word of mouth," Xia was quoted as saying.
The report did not specify how the cases were dealt with or how many suspects were arrested and charged.
In one case, police in July detained two men who sent text messages to more than 200 relatives or friends, claiming people with Aids were spreading the disease by using toothpicks at restaurants and returning them to their containers, it said.
An internet posting alleged that police chased a man riding a motorcycle with his son on the back, causing the death of the son who had won a place in a prestigious university.
In April, police launched an immediate investigation after a posting claimed a school in Jiangsu would be the site of a shooting spree with a death toll exceeding that of the Virginia Tech shootings in the United States just days earlier.
The issue of China’s restrictive policy of internet use has been fiercely debated throughout the year.
At the start of 2007 a new internet tool was launched in China to tighten regulation on ‘‘sensitive’’ internet content.
In Shenzhen, a city in southern China, virtual police officers were assigned by Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Internet Surveillance Division to patrol cyberspace.
On 2 January, images of the “Shenzhen Internet Police” – a male police officer named “Jingjing” and a female officer named “Chacha” – officially went online for the first time in China.
China has implemented laws restricting information posted on the internet since September 2005 by China’s State Council Information Office and the Ministry of Information Industry. China has claimed that these new laws were established to “protect the interest of the state”.
However, among the content restricted or prohibited from being posted on the internet is religious news criticising the government – such as persecution news – and political content the Chinese Government considers sensitive.
Banned political content includes explicit or implicit criticism of the ruling Communist Party.
The two pop-up cyber police officers will appear on users’ computer screens whenever they log onto a website or enter a chat room. The virtual officers serve to “remind the online population to be conscious of safe and healthy use of the internet, [and] self-regulate their online behaviour,” a division officer named Chen explained.
Six police officers will manage the two virtual and interactive police. Internet users can ask the officers questions and the officers will give legal information concerning internet usage.
China had 111 million Internet users at the end of 2005, an increase of 17 million from the previous year, according to an estimate by the China Internet Network Information Centre.
