In China, a senior Government official has stated that the spread of information relating to gambling is one of the top ten ‘worrying trends’ facing the nation’s online community.
Wang Chen, the Minister for the State Council Information Office, delivered a speech at the Eighth Forum On Internet Media Of China in Chongqing on Friday where he urged the country’s online media to help foster a society of integrity and honesty.
According to a piece by ThaIndian.com, the Minister revealed that the spread of rumours was the biggest threat facing China’s 253 million Internet users followed by the exaggeration of news. Dissemination of pornography or information on gambling was in third spot followed by online violence such as invasion of privacy and harassment.
The playing of unhealthy online games was fifth on Chen’s list preceded by fraud and the selling of inferior goods. The theft of personal financial information, the sending of junk mail and the spread of viruses rounded out the ten.
The Minister stated that such trends were ‘posing a major challenge’ to the Chinese Government’s efforts at regulating the nation’s expanding online community. He stressed the need for increased supervision of the Internet with the help of online stakeholders in order to bar objectionable elements from cyberspace.
The China Daily news service quoted Qiu Lufeng, a professor from Nanjing University’s law school, as stating that, although offline and online activities were not very different, the anonymous nature of the Internet made it harder for these activities to be regulated.
“The online community is so large that users can hide their real identities, making it hard to trace behaviour to a ‘real’ person,” said Lufeng.
“For example, if a person verbally attacks me online, it is troublesome for me to look for or even sue him as I don’t know his real name.”
Abstract from www.igamingbusiness.com
