Licenses revoked in anti-porn campaign

Authorities have cracked down on online pornography in a recent spate of cases, sending a strong signal that they intend to rein in Internet abuse, experts say.

In the latest case, authorities in Guangdong province revoked the value-added telecommunications business license held by Shenzhen QVOD Technology Co, according to an official statement on Thursday.

Zhou Huilin, deputy head of the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, said the license was revoked because the company spread pornographic content.

A value-added telecommunications business license enables a company to provide telecommunications and information services by using public network infrastructures.

Suspects from the company had been detained, the office said.

Four of the company's computer servers were confiscated at the end of 2013 during inspections when police found more than 3,000 pornographic videos on the servers, authorities said.

On April 24, Internet giant Sina Internet Information Service Co had two of its Internet business licenses revoked after pornographic content was found. Several suspects were detained.

To date, the national anti-porn office has released details of punishment in at least 20 cases of online porn as part of a crackdown on Internet abuse.

Zhou said, "The campaign is aimed at setting up a long-term mechanism to curb online porn."

Yu Guofu, a lawyer at Sheng Feng Law Firm in Beijing, said Shenzhen QVOD would no longer be able to carry out online business such as uploading photos and videos after its license was revoked, which would be a huge loss for the company.

"The license is like an ID card for Internet companies to carry out their businesses. The punishment is very severe," Yu said.