China to shield youth from Internet addiction
China is taking steps to discourage minors from becoming Internet addicts while cracking down of Internet piracy.
The draft amendment to a law on the protection of minors would encourage the development of technology that can terminate online gaming at fixed time.
The draft has been submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
The move comes amid rising concern that increasing number of youths are getting hooked to the Internet.
The government estimates that China has about 15.4 million youths among its 123 million netizens. Two million of them are Internet addicts, and the number is increasing rapidly.
The draft legislation would also prohibit the production and sale of books, newspapers, audio-video products, computer games and cartoons with pornographic, violent, disturbing contents or gambling information to minors.
The law, which went into effect in 1992, also adds articles in the draft aiming to protect the privacy of minors.
Meanwhile, three-month anti-Internet piracy campaign “will step up crackdown on illegal websites” and focus on online piracy of music, movies, software and books, said an official with the National Copyright Administration.
The focus of the drive will be in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Jilin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.
China had launched a 100-day anti-piracy campaign on July 15 that was jointly run by 10 ministries and national departments, including the Ministry of Public Security, the State Administration of Press and Publication, the National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Culture.
Since then, China has destroyed nearly 13 million pirated CDs, DVDs and computer software products.
