James Delahunty
23 Apr 2009 20:30
China has combined its war on pornography and it's war on piracy to single out some street pirates for heavier punishments. Recently, it has detained or sentenced dozens of individuals who sold DVD or VCD copies of pornographic content, according to China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). Multiple people were sentenced to 7 years in prison and fined for copyright infringement, and more importantly "selling obscene materials".
China's efforts against piracy are to keep the international community somewhat happy, and it's efforts against pornography are to tackle influences that may "pervert China's young minds." It has shut down more than 2,000 sites containing adult content and is even pursuing pornographic media on mobile phones.
The government is also pointing a finger of blame at Google and Baidu for not doing enough to stamp out adult content. The Chinese government doesn't seem to understand a basic fact, that if people have a demand for illicit or adult goods, somebody will step in to fill the void, and all "progress" made in a fight against it will only push the peddlers to conceal their actions more effectively.