Amid concerns that the free flow of information will be compromised, authorities are reining in Internet activities by erecting a 'national boundary' in cyberspace.
The boundary requires a variety of measures to monitor Web users and detect and punish 'vicious Internet-based activities', Xinhua said yesterday.
By observing keyboard clicks, tracing the wrongdoers through servers, sounding an early alert, and carrying out unspecified 'special tasks', authorities monitor cyber activities and collect evidence, Hu Mingzeng, an Internet expert at Harbin Industrial University, was quoted as saying.
Official statistics indicated there were 59.1 million Internet users on the mainland by late last year, a figure backed by WebSide Story, a US-based Internet analysis organisation.
China has become the second-largest cyber power after the US, and the mainland leadership is worried the Internet could become a hotbed of illegal activities, including subversion and terrorism.
But the new measures have raised concerns, with some experts saying freedom of speech will be compromised.
