September 6, 2004

• I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend!

  
  

  Here's an eye opening porn related news item I saw today on Yahoo!.  It just goes to show how the freedoms we often take for granted in the United States are not universal.  Even with conservative pests like Attorney General John Ashcroft to deal with, we still enjoy a relatively large amount of liberty when it comes to producing (and viewing) adult entertainment.

  
  

  
  

  ---

  
  
  

  
  

  China Threatens Internet Porn Merchants with Life

  
  

  BEIJING (Reuters) - China has intensified its battle against Internet and mobile phone pornography by threatening distributors with life in prison, Xinhua news agency said. 

  
  

  "Depending on the seriousness of the cases, the sentences range from living under compulsory surveillance, detainment, taking into custody by the police, to various terms of imprisonment and life imprisonment," Xinhua said.

  
  

  Beijing has stepped up its battle against smut in recent weeks, saying it is worried that the easy access to such material on the Internet and elsewhere will have a bad effect on youth and society.

  
  

  Under the latest crackdown, which started in July, authorities have shut down hundreds of Web sites and arrested more than 300 people.

  
  

  The new penalties were laid out on Sunday in guidelines issued by China's Supreme People's Court and the office of the country's top prosecutor, Xinhua said.

  
  

  A pornographic Web site that had been clicked on more than 250,000 times would be considered a "very severe" case that could warrant a life sentence for its producers, Xinhua said. It did not elaborate.

  
  

  China's communist rulers have gradually relaxed the puritanical rule they imposed when they swept to power in 1949, but sporadically try to crack down on the sex industry and are particularly nervous about pornography on the Internet.

  
  

  
  

  ---

  
  
  

  
  

  I wonder at what point China will concede it is impossible to stop the flow of porn in a modern Internet wired society?  Can they not see the genie is out of the bottle?  Also, I'd like to know more about the alleged "bad effects" of permitting adult entertainment.  To the best of my knowledge, said "bad effects" have never been demonstrated.  Plus, it seems to me, the countries with less restrictive free speech policies such as the U.S., Japan and Western Europe are the ones that have thrived.

  
  

  Also, doesn't imposing a life sentence for running a porn site strike anyone as just a wee bit harsh?  A central tenant of Western criminal law is the concept of proportionality.  In other words, the punishment imposed must be in proportion to the crime committed.  A sentence that is too far out of line in the United States may be challenged under the 8th Amendment which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment." 

  
  

  I feel bad for the 300+ people who have been swept up so far in this ridiculous agenda of the government.  I suppose it's much easier to be out of touch with the people when you don't have to be held accountable at the polls.

  
  

  -- Snowman

  • 8:29 pm
  • 6 Comments