The Chinese government seems to have a love-hate relationship with the net. On the one hand they’ve embraced the internet, making it widely available in universities etc, and implementing a country-wide program of high speed data links. And on the other hand, they constantly worry what their citizens get up to.

So now they’ve just had a big crackdown on net cafes, and closed 16,000. And launched a web site where people can report ‘unlawful content’. The public reason is protecting the young from naughty pictures and violence:

“However, many observers believe that the regime is just as worried about the disruptive effects of exposure to alternative sources of news and views about sensitive political subjects. “