China shuts even sex health sites

BEIJING: Ordinary web users in China will be banned from surfing sex-related medical and research websites from next month, amid an internet
crackdown on pornographic online content, according to new regulations. Medical information service providers must install software
to ensure only professionals can access sites that carry information and research about sex, the regulations on the website of the ministry of health said. “It is prohibited to spread pornographic content in the name of sex-related scientific research,” the regulations said. But the rules risk slowing sexual health education in a country people are too embarrassed to talk publicly about sex. Chat rooms on health channels in popular websites, which provide information on sexually tran-smitted diseases, may be hit.

Beijing: China on Thursday stepped up accusations that Google is spreading obscene content over the internet, a day after US officials urged Beijing to abandon plans for controversial filtering software on new computers. China’s foreign ministry accused Google’s of spreading obscene images that violated the nation’s laws, less than 24 hours after disruptions to the firm’s search engines and other services within China. Spokesman Qin Gang made plain the government’s anger and said “punishment measures” taken against Google were lawful.