Shanghai Daily news

The Shanghai Culture, Radio, Film and TV Administration will install video surveillance and high-tech software in all local Internet bars by the end of June to ensure they don't serve minors or allow customers to surf banned Websites.

"The software, which cost 7 million yuan (US$843,373) to develop, can help supervise more than 110,000 computers at the city's 1,325 Net bars and spot illegal activities immediately," said Yu Wenchang, who is in charge of the project.

Once the software is installed, it will send a message to a remote supervisory center any time a Net bar computer is used to view pornography or "superstitious" Websites, such as those containing information about the banned Falun Gong cult. The software will also inform authorities if Net cafes are operating overnight, which is banned.

The software also forces users to input their identification card numbers before they can log on, to ensure no one under the age of 16 uses the computers. Foreigners will have to input their passport number.

"The software will surely influence business at Net bars that have been violating the relevant regulations but won't affect me much," said the owner of Tailan Net Bar on Yanping Road, a man surnamed Weng. "But I think the government shouldn't supervise all the bars so strictly just because a few break the law."

He also questioned if the software will keep youngsters out of Net bars as they can easily use their parent's ID card to register.

The measure is part of a six-month campaign by the local government to clean up the city's Net bars that began at the start of this month. The city has already installed video cameras in every Internet cafe so officials can keep track of youngsters entering or leaving them. Bars must keep copies of the video for 30 days.

The city will also send out 600 volunteers to inspect Net bars from time to time and report back to the administration. The group is made up of teachers, youth affair workers and members of the People's Congress, Yu said.

Any Net bar found serving youngsters faces a maximum fine of 15,000 yuan for the first offense and will have its business license suspended for the second offense. A third violation will result in loss of the license.

Any Net bar that admits minors after midnight will lose its license immediately.

Fifty-seven Net bars have been punished or shut down in the city during the campaign. A list of the violators was published on a government Website (wgj.sh.gov.cn) yesterday.