BEIJING — A Chinese webmaster has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $3,000 for operating a porn site using a U.S.-based server.
China’s National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications nailed Sheng Jiarong from the city of Qingdao and cited him for reaping advertising revenues though the website.
The watchdog said its heavy-handed approach is clamping down on the spread of porn through the Internet and mobile devices and helping it to improve the way it polices domestic sites that host adult content.
Jiarong’s website had 703 photos, 9,111 erotic e-novels and 99 videos, all found during an online crackdown campaign that began in early 2011.
The government’s war against porn continues despite a shift in China’s attitudes about sex.
According to a report in China Daily, the Chinese are becoming more open toward having sex and the Internet is the most popular source of sex information.
The report cited a 2011 Global Durex Sexual Well-being Survey that said about 50 percent of people said they learn about sex through the Internet.
Compared to a similar 2006 survey conducted by the same company, the results indicate that sexual attitudes and behaviors have changed among Chinese people.