BEIJING (Reuters) - China is struggling to contain a surge in online piracy, specifically cases involving the illegal downloading of movies, music and books, and needs tougher punishments, a senior official said on Thursday.
The number of cases dealt with last year was more than double the previous two years combined, and with technology developing rapidly, it was becoming harder to crack down, said Yan Xiaohong, deputy head of the National Copyright Administration.
"Although our rectification campaigns have had obvious initial results, we must clearly recognize that there has been no sea change for the better in our nations Internet copyright protection environment," he told a news conference.
"Especially following the rapid development of Internet technology, online piracy cases have proliferated, and the fight is far from over."
Fines and sentences meted out against offenders to date had perhaps not been strong enough, he said.
"As the situation is so serious we ought to give out heavier fines under the legal framework," Yan said.
China had 210 million Internet users at the end of 2007, second only to the United States, and the population would become the worlds largest at the beginning of this year, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday, quoting industry sources.
The government keeps a tight grip over the Internet in what is sometimes called "the Great Firewall of China," blocking overseas sites deemed anti-China such as those of banned spiritual group Falun Gong, and censoring domestic content.
Deputy head of the Public Security Bureaus economic crimes division Gao Feng said there would be no let up in the "cleansing" of the Internet of content deemed inappropriate.
"We will put whatever police forces are needed into this," he said, without elaborating.
Despite this, piracy has proliferated, with illegal downloads of Hong Kong and Taiwan television shows and films being especially popular with Chinese Web surfers looking for more than the staid fair offered by state media.
Such shows and movies are often banned or censored in China for their supposedly racy and politically suspect content.
Last month, the government said that in a bid to curb pornography and politically sensitive online subjects, only state-owned firms would be allowed to apply for licenses to share videos and audio online.
But a lack of clarity over those definitions and uncertainty over how strictly Beijing would enforce the rules over sites such as Googles YouTube have left many in the industry confused.
Chen Jiachun, vice-director of the Ministry of Information Industrys Telecom Management Bureau, declined to comment directly on the impact of the new rules.
"We will chose an appropriate way to respond to questions from the media or society," she said. "It will be very soon."
(Editing by Nick Macfie and David Fogarty)
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