BTChina, a BitTorrent site whose closure has caused a media uproar, has emptied its Web site except for a message saying the country’s broadcasting regulator shut it down for lacking a license to offer online videos. VeryCD, another popular service that says it is based on the eMule file-sharing program, appeared to become the latest casualty of the clampdown when it went offline Wednesday afternoon, though it posted a statement blaming the outage on server problems and saying service might resume the next day. China’s broadcasting regulator has now shut down hundreds of video Web sites in its campaign, according to local media.

Before this latest move, regulators have cranked up their work to eradicate porn accessed by mobile phone and called for more control of vulgar content in online PC games. Last week state Broadcaster CCTV also criticized Google and local rival Baidu over pornographic search results, following a row between authorities and Google earlier this year that peaked when Google services including Google.com were briefly blocked in the country.

China this year has already closed thousands of Web sites and arrested dozens over online porn. Authorities call the content harmful to children and appear to see porn as a scourge on traditional culture.

Source : Konaxis

China issued 3G (third generation) mobile network licenses to its three mobile carriers early this year, and the number of 3G users in China has slowly climbed since then. This year the country has also closed thousands of Web sites and arrested dozens in a campaign against online pornography that is increasingly shifting focus to mobile Web sites.

But Chinese owners of mobile porn Web sites have been able to evade authorities through technical tactics such as frequently switching domain names and IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Counter-tactics being used by authorities include a blacklist to prevent pornographic Web sites from reappearing online and the design of content-filtering technology to help network operators themselves block obscene content, said officials.