HardwareHeaven.com

HardwareHeaven.com

Looking for the skin chooser?
 
 
  • Home

  • Hardware reviews

  • Articles

  • News

  • Tools

  • Gaming at HardwareHeaven

  • Forums

 

Go Back   HardwareHeaven.com > Forums > News > Other Tech News


Other Tech News The latest community based technology news from across the globe. (If you aren't a community newsposter then use the "Submit News" section.)

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old Jun 16, 2002, 09:53 PM   #1
DriverHeaven Founder
 
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 32,480
Rep Power: 179
Zardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refuteZardon has a reputation beyond refute

Default Post Beijing cyber cafes closed down

The mayor of Beijing has ordered the immediate closure of all cyber cafes in the Chinese capital, after a fire killed at least 24 and injured 13 others in one of the city's internet parlours. Mayor Liu Qi also suspended new licences that are still waiting for safety inspections.
Most of the victims of the fire were students, attracted by the cafe's cheap late-night internet rates; there was only one exit to the room, and the windows were barred.
Tens of thousands of internet cafes have sprung up in China in recent years, with many people - especially the young - seizing the chance to explore life in other countries through the internet.
Internet fans
State media said the blaze started at the Lanjisu Cyber Cafe in the early hours of Sunday morning, in Beijing's university district.
Police cordoned off the area and were inspecting the soot-stained shell of the two-storey concrete building which housed the cafe.
Firefighters managed to put the fire out within an hour.
Although the cause is not yet known, Mayor Liu Qi decided to act quickly.
"From now on, Beijing will not encourage the development of internet bars," he said.
"From today, all internet bars should stop operation and departments concerned should stop issuing licences."
Internet cafes are enormously popular in China and their number has risen sharply in recent years, with many of them open 24 hours a day.
Internet policing
Correspondents say China's tight controls on the internet have driven many operators underground.
An official hi-tech police - nicknamed "the great firewall of China" - keeps watch over the internet 24 hours a day.
Its job is to keep web users from accessing information considered unhealthy by the government - including pornography and political material.
However, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Beijing says the government is struggling to contain the flow of information, as the internet is allowing people from every corner of China to engage with each other in debate.
Analysts say many Chinese youths turn to illegal cyber cafes because they cannot afford their own computer, and still others are lured by the freedom of anonymous internet access.
A few weeks ago, a senior figure in China's Communist government expressed concern about the amount of time young people are spending surfing the internet and called for tighter regulation of cyber cafes.
bbc
Zardon is offline   Reply With Quote


Reply

Thread Tools