Virtual cops to monitor gambling, porn in China

The Ministry of Public Security in China announced that the government will be assigning "virtual cops" to monitor illicit activities on the Internet. They will monitor all major portals and online forums across China in an effort to wipe out pornography and online gambling.

According to the ministry, the top three priorities will be online gambling, vulgarity and fraud.

"The existence of these problems has affected the healthy development of the Internet, brought harm to the youths' minds, contaminated the social ethos and disrupted the social order," said MPS vice-minister Zhang Xinfeng to the Xinhua News Agency.

This won't be the first time virtual cops have been used in China. Last year, police in Shenzhen inserted a floating cartoon icon of a policeman on major Web sites. The sites are linked to the local police stations and have an alarm system.

The success of the program in Shenzhen led to the government looking into taking it nationwide.

According to an Internet expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the floating icons will help remind people that the Web sites are under surveillance, which will help maintain a clear cyber environment and deter online crime.

The virtual cops are expected to be fully deployed by June.

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