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

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."

Misleading, China is forbidding addictive gameplay

[Clsid]

The article is not reflecting why these measures came to pass. They are trying to block minors from spending all day long playing World of Warcraft, Counterstrike and similar addictive games, not the web itself. You can be in favor or against games like that, but one thing is certain, they are truly addictive and in my country, Venezuela, they don't allow minors with school uniforms into Internet cafes either. See the problem is that in countries like this, the "cafe" part is meaningless. People use computers in these places since they might not have a net connection at home, the games would have incredible lag and a myriad of other issues mostly related to money and available infrastructure. It is the same way in most developing countries.

Re:Let's Declare A No-Fly Zone!

[russotto]

And they will destroy themselves. How long will 2 billion people live under such oppression?

Indefinitely. Worse conditions have been the lot of most of the human race for most of history. Sixty-year-old North Korea is far worse.