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Message: <blockquote data-quote="imrankhanhassan" data-source="post: 5091489" data-attributes="member: 150140"><img src="http://amberfuhrmann.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/china_internet1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />China’s government plans to tighten restrictions on Web sites that discuss [FONT=Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif]sexual health[/FONT], the latest step in a widening campaign against pornography that is roiling the Internet industry and highlighting changing attitudes toward sex in [FONT=Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif]Chinese[/FONT] society. The [FONT=Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif]restrictions[/FONT] are part of broader regulations set to take effect July 1. The [FONT=Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif]Ministry of Health[/FONT] says the rules are aimed at improving the accuracy and scientific basis of all medical-health sites on the Internet. The guidelines — which apply to topics including “sexual psychology, sexual ethics, sex medicine, and sex treatments” — state that only government-sanctioned medical institutions can provide sex-related content on [FONT=Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif]Web sites[/FONT], and that all such sites will have to be approved by provincial-level health authorities.  Meanwhile, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday reiterated criticism of <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=goog" target="_blank">Google</a> Inc., saying its site “has spread large amounts of pornographic, lewd and vulgar content, which is in serious violation of Chinese laws and regulations.” Google’s search engine and other Google services were temporarily inaccessible across China Wednesday night. Asked about the disruption at a routine news briefing the next day, the foreign ministry spokesman didn’t address whether the government was responsible. The health ministry didn’t respond Thursday to a request to comment on the latest regulations, which were adopted in March but made public only this week. The state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday quoted Deng Haihua, head of the ministry’s information office, as saying the rules will strengthen the ministry’s “management and supervision of sex health Web sites in the country to guarantee scientific and accurate information and prevent lewd content in disguise.” Google declined to comment on the latest sexual-health Web restrictions and the spokesman’s criticism. Google has said it is working to remove pornography from its search results in China. As part of those efforts, the company also said it temporarily disabled a feature that suggests search terms and redesigned Google.cn, its Chinese home page, to remove links to other language versions of the site. Chinese officials’ scrutiny of Google comes as U.S. Internet companies and officials have begun expressing concern about the Chinese government’s plan to require PC manufacturers to install Web-filtering software on computers shipped into China. On Wednesday, Obama administration officials sent letters to two Chinese ministries asking them to reconsider the rule. Sex is a taboo subject in China, but rising incomes and increasing freedom of choice for how people behave have created more interest in sexual issues and in reproductive education. Many experts say education on the subject remains inadequate. Pan Suiming, director of the Institute of Sexuality and Gender at Renmin University in Beijing, called the new policy on sex Web sites “mistaken.” Liang Peiding, who runs a site that offers information on issues such as sexual dysfunction and medicine, added that he believed the health ministry shouldn’t have the jurisdiction to monitor online content. The regulation “is not supported by the law and I think they are making a mess of it,” he said. “Currently in China, parents never talk about sex with their kids, who instead gain sexual content through pornographic films. We can [FONT=Tahoma,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif]use the Internet[/FONT] to guide them properly.” Under the new restrictions, sex-related sites must use material only from specialists in the field. Violators can be fined up to 30,000 yuan (about $4,400).</blockquote>

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