China Shuts Down Real-Time Porn Website

GUANGZHOU, China - A website that sold real-time pornography from its base in the southern province of Guangdong was shut down by police who arrested 33 people, including two residents of Taiwan.

The site, whose server was located in Taiwan, charged users to watch strip shows or other pornographic performances staged in China. The site opened in 2006 and accumulated more than 1 million yuan ($137,000) in just three months.

Police said 23 of the arrested people were performing for the site at 12 locations in Zhuhai. They were detained for 15 days.

The remaining 10 who were arrested managed the operation. Two of them are Taiwanese. Seven of the managers were prosecuted, and three were released on bail.

Police seized 28 computers, equipment used to stage the shows and 160,000 yuan ($22,121).

According to the Guangdong Department of Public Security, the site was most-visited pornographic site of those shut down since the beginning of last year's cyberspace cleanup.

The cleanup campaign will last until the September close of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Chinese authorities have shut down 44,000 domestic websites and home pages and arrested 868 people in the investigation of 524 criminal cases.

Another 1,911 people involved in 1,609 Web-based pornographic activities were punished, and authorities deleted more than 440,000 pornographic messages that had been posted online.