Considerate to a fault, the Chinese authorities have closed down more than 8 600 unlicensed Internet cafés in the past three months to ensure the ”healthy development” of the nation’s impressionable young minds.
Domestic media controlled by the government have described the move in benign terms, as the nanny state tightening safety standards at businesses that take up an increasing amount of teenage time and money. But for some reason this has not convinced cynics, who see the crackdown as an alarming new Big Brother-style restriction on the population’s freedom of expression and access to information.
For doubters, the closures are a step towards a Chinese Internet regime that will eventually allow the authorities to monitor every user online, block access to politically challenging sites and keep tabs on public access via closed-circuit cameras and registration software. The authorities insist, however, they are simply responding to public anxieties about the pernicious influence of the Web.
The rapid growth of illegal Internet cafés has been associated with some appalling tragedies, including an arson attack in 2002 that killed 25 people at an outlet in Bei- jing that had blocked the doors and windows to keep out prying eyes.
Online dissent and information dissemination is a growing concern of the government, which has used a mix of sophisticated software and heavy-handed police tactics to clamp down on Web-based opposition.
While it is far more likely that China’s impressionable young minds just want to play online games than campaign against the Communist Party, the police say they will strictly enforce the government’s attempt to keep control of the Web. — Â