A new campaign to crack down on illegal computer downloads of
films, music, software and textbooks has been launched by China's
National Copyright Administration in the country's latest move to
fight piracy, said the authorities.
The three-month long campaign will target illegal websites and
their operators providing downloads of material they don't have the
right to sell, said the NCA.
"Internet piracy is not just an obstacle to the construction of
building a harmonious Internet culture it's also causing a very bad
influence in the international community," said Long Xinmin, head
of the administration. He added that only by strengthened efforts
to crackdown on Internet piracy could China soundly develop its
Internet.
The NCA has investigated 302 Internet piracy cases across the
country since the campaign began on September 30. This is more than
double that of last year and showed Internet piracy was still
rampant in China, said Wang Ziqiang, NCA spokesman.
The NCA expected that over the coming months it would fully
complete its investigation, close a number of illegal websites and
punish those who operated them. Of the cases being investigated
more than 100 are related to software piracy, 80 to film
downloading and 49 to music.
Wang said the capital Beijing had the most cases followed
by Shanghai and Zhejiang Province both in east China.
A regulation which banned the uploading and downloading of
Internet materials without the permission of the copyright holder
came into effect in July. Under the regulation anyone uploading
texts, performances, sound and video recordings to the Internet for
downloading or copying must have permission from copyright
owners.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)