China's "Virtual Police"

Beijing police announced that they will start patrolling the Internet using animated "beat officers" that pop up on a user's browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content. China takes elaborate steps to police the Internet for content that the government believes unsuitable, including profanity, nudity, illegal gambling, and of course pirated music and movies. Beginning September 1st, these animated cartoon cybercops will appear on many of China's top Web portals, including Sohu and Sina, and by the end of the year will appear on all websites registered with Beijing servers.

The cartoon cops are intended to get Web surfers attention and remind them that authorities can and do monitor Internet activity. The male and female cartoon officers (shown above) will give a text warning to abide by the law and tips on Internet security as they move across the screen in a virtual car, motorcycle or on foot ( guess they aren't yet equipped to give e-tickets and make arrests).

For more info., see this news story from USA Today. If you're interested in how China monitors the Internet, see a report on Internet Filtering in China for 2004-2005 (probably a bit out-of-date already).

According to a friend in Beijing, this blog is not readily viewable in China probably as a result of the Chinese government's filtering technology. They may be blocking access to all blogs since its hard to enforce regulations against anyone with a computer, especially if they're not even in China.