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New eyes to watch internet
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CHINA is developing a system similar to "black box" flight-data recorders which will be capable of monitoring Internet traffic to help out the "cyber police", the latest breed of law enforcers in the country, who have started to peep on the Web.
The plan to invent an apparatus capable of recording all Internet activities is part of China's preparation for legislation targeting cyber crimes, said China's News Weekly, adding that the research is already under way.
China recorded 6.5 million computers and 16.9 million Internet users at the end of June last year. While the Web is rapidly changing people's lives, cyber crimes have been soaring, the Weekly said.
The police authorities in central China's Wuhan city established the country's first Internet police force in 1998. Now there are almost 1,000 officers operating in about 20 provinces, the Weekly reported.
The cyber police were given authorization to handle criminal cases at the end of 1999, it said.
The magazine also gave a detailed account of the division of responsibilities in the force. One division tackles email crimes, while others fight child pornography, cyber terrorist activities and economic fraud.
The report also said a cyber criminal in Wuhan had tried to blackmail an unidentified Hong Kong firm for HK$300 million (US$38 million) in November 1999. Internet police, however, successfully identified the culprit, a man in his 20s, who sent his messages from cyber cafes.(SD News)
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