Nude Web Chat Excluded From China Antiporn Law

BEIJING ? A pornography charge against a woman has been dropped after investigators discovered that the nude Internet chatting she was organizing was not considered pornographic activity as defined by Chinese law.

The woman had been charged with "organizing pornographic activities" after hosting naked online chat sessions, but according to the Xinhua news agency, officials found that nude chat rooms are not included in China's strict online pornography laws ? considered a legal "blind spot."

This discovery follows the government's announcement last week that it will launch a six-month campaign to fight Internet-porn, tightening manual monitoring and improving online filtering systems, all in the effort to wipe porn and obscenity from the Internet.

China's Ministry of Public Security said the campaign will focus on cyber strip shows and sexually explicit photos, video, text and audio clips. The Internet in China is reported to be one of the most tightly controlled in the world, using automatic filters and manual monitoring to weed out and, eventually, prosecute illegal porn.

"The boom of pornographic content on the Internet has contaminated cyberspace and perverted China's young minds," said Zhang Xinfeng, a deputy public security minister.