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Daily Planet is a collection of short news items -- one each weekday -- that evoke and illuminate the far corners of the world. To read previous items, visit the Daily Planet archive. Send all tips to DailyPlanet @salon.com.

In early February, according to a Reuters report, 127 Internet cafes in Shanghai were forced to close and their computers were confiscated because, said the Shanghai News, the cafes had failed to obtain licenses. The newspaper quoted an information department official as saying, "Unlicensed Internet cafes avoid paying taxes and disseminate pornographic CDs which corrupt the minds of young people."

Is the government truly afraid their youth will log on to www.persiankitty.com? Or are they really trying to keep them from accessing www.amnesty.org?

Although porn might rattle a few innocent youngsters, it is unlikely to cause civil unrest, which is what has the government really worried. So worried, in fact, that it has just passed a slew of laws making citizens who operate chat rooms, news groups and e-mail services responsible for any security breach that may occur via their services.

Since citizens who are charged with leaking state secrets usually spend significant portions of their lives in jail, this crackdown could effectively shut down the Chinese on-ramp to the Web.

Can you say www.repression.com?
salon.com | Feb. 22, 2000

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