China supervises the Internet in accordance with the law, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang told a regular press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, when answering a question on alleged blocking of the well-known video site YouTube.
Qin said the Chinese government is not afraid of the Internet. So far, China has 300 million Internet users – the highest number of users in the world - 2.1 million websites, and 100 million blogs, all of which show China's Internet is open enough.
He said, "We encourage people to use Internet and we regulate the Internet by law in order to prevent the spread of harmful information and for national security.
We also draw on the experience of other countries in this regard. In the United States, for instance, you have the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed in 1998, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in 1999, the Children's Internet Protection Act in 2000 and the Can-Spam Act in 2003."
Moreover, after the 9/11 attacks, the US Patriot Act also provides that if the country's security is endangered, the authorities can supervise emails and other information on the Internet without seeking the authorization of a court, Qin said.
(China.org.cn by Zhou Jing March 25, 2009)