Net porn seen as minor problem

Twenty complaints have been made about obscene and indecent material on the Internet since a code of practice started a year ago.

'Indications are that the amount of objectionable material is of relatively small proportions,' according to a paper to the Legislative Council's information technology and broadcasting panel.

Of the 20 cases, no further action had been taken on 10. This was because in five cases, the material under complaint no longer existed.

In another three cases, the complainants had failed to provide enough information and in the other two, the material originated from overseas and was outside the jurisdiction of Hong Kong.

Of the other 10 cases, the Web sites of three had been blocked by the Internet service providers concerned. Two cases involved Web pages with a hyper-link to other pornographic Web pages and the links had been disconnected.

The remaining five cases had been referred to the police, with one resulting in the arrest of a youngster for publication of obscene articles.