Five Chinese departments — the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Culture, the General Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the General Administration of Press and Publication — have jointly issued a circular stating that from now until the middle of April, a nationwide campaign will be conducted to crack down on vulgar material spread via mobile phones.
The campaign will focus on the illegal spreading of pornographic information via mobile phones and mobile games equipment, particularly the downloading of pornographic video programs before they are saved on mobile phones, and MP3 and MP4 players. It is understood that sites such as mobile phone stores and second-hand mobile phone trade markets will be the main targets of the inspection.
The circular asks that police departments strengthen their supervision of mobile phone sellers and video products stores as well as monitoring the downloading of bawdy and sex-related video programs from the Internet. In addition, it asks the police departments to work actively with the information management department to enhance their management of the Internet, to urge and guide Internet service providers in information safety management and applying the relevant management rules.
The circular stresses that departments at various levels throughout China should strengthen their cooperation and coordination, and take joint efforts to deal with illegal behavior when necessary.
