China's new online police warn: 'Internet is not beyond the law'

World Tribune
Jan. 11, 2006

China's government has initiated the first police force designed to monitor the Internet.

Authorities in Shenzhen said the police force began Jan. 1 and will monitor “everything that is said in online forums,” the Hong Kong Ming Pao reported.

The Shenzhen police said in announcing the new force that the “Internet is not beyond the law“ and that Chinese should strictly regulate their online behavior.
China is cultivating high-technology specialists from around the world to develop expertise to control content on the Internet, which China's communist leaders view as a threat to their control over the country.

The Shenzhen Internet police have stated that websites and online forums are no longer outside the control of law enforcement, including public security agencies, urban administration and civil administration authorities.

The police use floating computer icons that appear on Internet sites to notify computer users that they are being monitored.