News: China Closes 1,600 Internet Cafes in Crackdown

Again…Yawn…

Sat Oct 30,10:10 PM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – China shut 1,600 Internet cafes between February and August and imposed $12.1 million worth of fines for allowing children to play violent or adult-only games and other violations, state media said

Of 1.8 million Internet bars inspected, 18,000 were ordered “to stop operation for rectification,” Xinhua news agency quoted Zhang Xinjian, deputy director of the Culture Ministry’s market department, as saying.

“Porn, gambling, violence and similar problems have adversely affected the healthy development of the Internet in China,” Zhang was quoted as saying.

The crackdown comes amid a nationwide push to limit violence and pornography on the Internet that has seen the government shut down hundreds of Web sites it deemed unsavory.

China has some 87 million Internet users, over 50 percent of whom are under 24 and approximately 18 percent are minors.