July 1, 2006

Search engines and blogs (Web logs) are one of the most active parts of the China information industry, yet from now on, they will undergo much stricter supervision by their government.

"As more and more illegal and unhealthy information spreads through blogs and search engines, we will take effective measures to put them under control," said Cai Wu, director of the Information Office of the State Council, at a meeting held Wednesday.

China launched a project on Feb. 21 to clean its environment of Internet and mobile communications network through a series of measures within a year.

According to a report made by the prestigious Qinghua (Tsinghua) University in Beijing, Chinese blog sites have reached close to 37 million. The report also predicted that blog sites may exceed 60 million in 2006.

"The market cannot develop without efficient management," said Cai, adding that the Chinese government will enhance research on the concerned technology and make better admittance standards on some blog websites.

In 2005, search engine users in China reached 97 million, accounting for more than 87 percent of Chinese internet users, said iResearch Consultative Ltd.

iResearch forecasts that those numbers will top 100 million this year.

Chinese internet search engine service providers formed a self-discipline organization in 2004, refusing to support pornographic and obscene websites.

"We will speed up technology development to safeguard the network management and do more research on internet security issues triggered by new blogging technology," Said Wang Xudong, Minister of the Information Industry.

He also said China will pave the way for real-name registration of phone users and ask all websites to be officially registered with Chinese authorities.

Source: China View.cn