China blacklists Google

China says no to porn

China has blacklisted 19 major sites and portals including Google for spreading or containing pornographic and obscene content. China has come under fire for restricting its citizens from accessing many sites that Governments in the West consider annoying but otherwise not of any major concern.

The move to block websites comes as Chinese governmental agencies including the Ministry of Public Security launch a month-long clean-web campaign. Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the State Council Information Office said on Monday (5th January 2008) “Immediate action is needed to purify the Internet environment.”

Sites that are discovered to contain or link to pornographic and obscene content are contact and asked to remove the offending content. If the sites in question fail to comply with the Chinese Government’s request they are added to the blacklist.

Google states that the obscene material that is found using its search engine is not owned or controlled by Google and it does not spread that material intentionally.