Shenzhen's "cyber police" appeared in public for the first time
on Friday -- their first since the launch of their on-line fight
against net crime a year ago.
Eight officers, including two policewomen, who represent the two
cartoon characters on many of the city's Web sites, made their
appearance at a press conference held by the Shenzhen Municipal
Public Security Bureau.
Since their launch, the two characters "Jingjing" and "Chacha,"
two Chinese characters for police -- Jingcha in Chinese, have
received more than 6,500 reports directly on the Internet. More
than 1.2 million people have visited their online reporting
platform by clicking on their images.
The reported cases were mostly tip-offs about harmful
information including obscene information, politically dangerous
information and Internet viruses.
In one case, the mobile phone and MSN address of a woman
surnamed Zhu, working for an IT company in Huaqiangbei, were made
public on the Internet in April 2006. Zhu was said on the Web site
to be available for pornographic services. Zhu's case was promptly
investigated by the cyber police, who tracked down the culprit, He,
two days later. He was detained for five days.
The eight officers offer a round-the-clock service at the public
security bureau where they receive online reports of cases and
monitor the Internet. They promise to respond to online reports
within 10 minutes.
"Jingjing" and "Chacha" have been patrolling more than 850
Shenzhen Web sites including BBS and online forums where they can
spot and delete harmful information.
The Ministry of Public Security is also planning to introduce
cyber police to other parts of the country, according to media
reports.
A survey made by the media and cultural development research
center of Shenzhen University indicated that 70 percent of those
surveyed think surfing on the Internet is much safer with cyber
police's protection. And more than 60 percent think that cyber
police can effectively control harmful online information.
But some are worried whether the cyber police can balance
supervision with safeguarding people's rights and freedom of
speech.
(Shenzhen Daily January 29, 2007)
