Internet cafe ban call draws Chinese hacker wrath

AFP/File – Young Chinese play online games at an internet cafe in Beijing on February 27, 2010. A member of China's …

BEIJING (AFP) – One woman taking part in China's annual parliamentary meetings has learned that law-making has its drawbacks -- especially when you provoke savvy web users.
After Yan Qi, a member of China's legislative advisory body, said she would propose a nationwide ban on private Internet cafes, hackers paralysed the website of her restaurant chain, state media reported Thursday.
Yan, whose business is based in the southwest city of Chongqing, had blamed Internet cafes for social ills ranging from school truancy and petty theft to video game addiction, the Global Times newspaper reported.
"Many serious problems are linked to Internet cafes and businesspeople usually ignore their social responsibilities," Yan was quoted as saying.
"Desperate diseases must have drastic cures, which is to ban them all."
Yan was to propose the ban at the annual gathering of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which began Wednesday, suggesting that state-run cybercafes should be set up.
Chinese hackers vented their anger by repeatedly hacking into the website of her restaurant chain, Taoranju, changing the home page and removing links.

 


An employee told the newspaper the website had "become a target for everyone" and despite repeated attempts to repair it, the attacks were expected to continue until the controversy dies down.
The restaurateur is one of 2,374 hand-picked members of the CPPCC that includes athletes, billionaires, film stars and farmers. Former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang and director Zhang Yimou are among the delegates.
The body has no real legislative power, but in theory advises China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People?s Congress.
China is home to the world's largest web population, with 384 million people online. The country has more than 81,000 Internet cafes with 4.7 million computers.