Beijing Police Using Virtual Officers to Patrol Internet

Even though the Chinese government strictly monitors Internet usage and bans content that it finds to be politically or morally offensive, it appears that nudity, profanity, illegal gambling, and pirated copies of music, books, and movies are spreading throughout China-based web servers. To counteract these developments, police in Beijing have begun using animated, virtual police officers to patrol the Web. As of September 1, virtual officers pop up on a user's Internet browser and walk, bike, or drive across the screen with a text warning for users to stay away from illegal Internet content. The virtual police officers will appear on 13 of China's top Internet portals every 30 minutes. But by the end of 2007, they will appear on all web sites registered with Beijing-based servers. If web surfers need police assistance, they can click on the virtual police officers and their browsers will be directed to the Beijing Police Department web site. For more information, see: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070828/china_web_police.html?.v=3 Summary by: Andrei Edwards