A GUANGZHOU import and export company recently found its talent Web site had become pornographic.

　　It was discovered that since the company had not paid its registration fee on time, the Web site had been re-registered to a pornographic site based in Canada.

　　“We have suffered a lot from this,” an officer of the company said. The company had made a profit of about 1 million yuan in its labor exporting business, but since the Web site had been re-registered by other people, it had seen no profit at all.

　　“Of course, the loss of the Web site is the main reason,” (for the losses) the officer said.

　　The company was also embarrassed by calls from clients asking whether it had changed its line of business.

　　The company applied for arbitration with the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission asking for compensation of 1 million yuan from the Web site management company.

　　The commission held the management company liable for failing to follow up its client’s request to pay the registration fee. The commission also ruled that the Web site company needed to pay only 50,000 yuan compensation, saying that the Web site being re-registered as a pornographic site was not directly related to the manager’s negligence.

　　A source from China’s Web site registration authorities said the country had yet to introduce strict regulations regarding such things as the legal status of a Web site. Without regulations, he said, it was difficult to determine the value of a Web site.

　　(John Woo)