China's Internet media and content providers have pledged to protect cyberspace from pornography, gambling and other "unhealthy content" through self-regulation and legal measures.

The call was made at a regular meeting on Saturday held by the Internet News Service Work Committee under the Internet Society of China (ISC) in Haikou, capital of China's southernmost island province of Hainan.

"In 2005 alone, we received 127,010 complaints from the public, including 68.2 percent about pornography and 8.15 percent about gambling frauds," said Li Jiaming of the ISC.

Li said since his center was established on June 10, 2004, it has received 240,000 complaints from the public.

The work committee passed several self-regulation agreements in 2005, pledging to improve the conduct of Internet Industry Participants and promote and ensure the sound development of the Internet industry in line with the law.

China, with 111 million Internet users, is the world's second largest Internet market only after the United States. However, a report released by the government said earlier this month that each of its e-mail subscribers receives an average of 16.8 pieces of junk e-mails per week, which are 60 percent of the total e-mails they receive.

The government kicked off a massive campaign in 2004 to weed out pornography from the rapidly-growing Internet.

In 2005, 11 people were jailed for up to 12 years for running an obscene website in China's largest case of Internet pornography. The website operators of www.99bbs.com, also known as the 99 Sex Forum, were accused of posting pornographic pictures, videos and stories, and even opening chatrooms providing information on prostitution throughout China.

In November 2004, the website had nearly 76,000 registered users and had earned some 220,000 yuan (26,000 U.S. dollars).

At Saturday's meeting, it was commented that strong public reactions indicate that the campaign of purifying the Internet will be "tough and arduous."

The ISC then announced the establishment of a five-member expert group to help set up a legal system and conduct public ethics education on the Internet.

Source: Xinhua