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Over Half a Decade, China Closed 130,000 Internet Cafes

Posted by timothy on from the of-by-and-for-the-people's-assembly dept.

angry tapir writes "China shut down more than 130,000 illegal Internet cafes in the country over a six year period, as part of crackdown to control the market, according to a new Chinese government report. Internet cafes in China are highly regulated by the government, which can issue and revoke their licenses. Authorities have made it illegal for Internet cafes to serve minors under the age of 18, stating that the Web's content could endanger their well-being."

3 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Let's Declare A No-Fly Zone! by virb67 · · Score: 1, Informative

    How is China different than Gaddafi's Libya? Oh right, it's far worse. But they have no oil. And they're not weak. And they allow the West to exploit their their people, as long as the CCP get their cut.

    1. Re:Let's Declare A No-Fly Zone! by JWSmythe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Before you go screaming about oppression, consider the scale of the numbers.

          In 2002, there were about 46,000 licensed internet cafes, and 150,000 unlicensed internet cafes. (Ref: Time Magazine)

          In 2000, there were about 40,000 licensed cafes, growing to 168,000 in 2009.
          (Ref: Investors Hub)

          If you apply the same ratio of licensed vs unlicensed from the Time article (3.2:1), it could be extrapolated that there were also approximately 538,000 unlicensed cafes. So if 130,000 were closed down over a period of 5 years, that would be a whopping 26,000 per year. So roughly 5% of the illegal cafes were shut down. That could easily be attributed to disgruntled customers, ex-employees, failure to pay bribes to local law enforcement, or law enforcement needing to show that they are making an effort against such illegal activity.

          Someone else can work out the trends to show my numbers are a little off, but not terribly far.

          These tiny numbers in relation to the size of the country, population, and number of cafes are insignificant.

          I'd be willing to bet similar trends could be shown in the US relating to liquor license violations, marijuana grow house busts, and other associated nefarious activities. If it weren't China and the Internet, it wouldn't have even been news.

          If you're going worry about such things, worry about those who end up in prison here in the US on petty charges, that range from perfectly legal to gray areas in many other states and countries.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
  2. Hmm by euyis · · Score: 3, Informative

    Authorities have made it illegal for Internet cafes to serve minors under the age of 18,

    And the last time I went to a internet cafe I was given a vaild ID number of someone over 18 along with the name associated to log in when I explained that my ID card's missing and a new one is not yet available. Didn't even bother asking me to give my number - guess they do the same when the minors come to play online games.