Several sources (BBC, CNET, stuff.co.nz) reported this morning that China has banned the establishment of new Internet cafes for the rest of this year. Apparently, this is an effort by the Chinese government to curb the number of cases of Internet addiction:

"Last year, a report from the China National Children's Center, a government think-tank, said that 13 percent of China's 18 million Internet users under 18 were Internet addicts." (via CNET)

Interestingly, the Associated Press reported via MSNBC that "China's second-largest mobile phone company plans to open 3,000 Internet cafes by the end of the year". Basically, it seems like the Chinese government is in essence replacing yet another privately-operated industry with a government-controlled company. 

According to the Washington Post, schoolkids are finding their way around government regulations in order to access the web, visiting underground internet cafes secretly.  According to the Post, Chinese kids are still finding their way to Internet cafes despite rules that prevent kids under 18 from going to the cafes.

In a country with 132 million people online (China is on track to surpass the US in its number of internet users in the next two years), how long can the government keep up this blatent censorship?  I think TechDirt has some great points on this issue.

| Trackback URL |