Sohu, Telstra Sites, Others Added to Porn Watch List

China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC) cited Sohu's (Nasdaq:SOHU) real estate portal Focus.cn, Telstra- (ASX:TLS) invested real estate website SouFun, Guangzhou-based online video site 56.com and Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings' (8002.HK) portal ifeng.com for "low-brow" content in its ninth list of offending sites, which included 10 companies, on February 20. Government-backed CIIRC cited 19 websites for content that "perverts social morals and harms the physical and mental health of children" on January 5 to kick off its anti-porn crackdown.

The Ministry Industry and Information Technology recently released documents warning that websites not registering with the government by February 24 would be shut down, reports TechWeb.com.cn. An employee at Xi'an-based Internet data center service provider Keya Communication Technology said about 100,000 sites would be closed during the crackdown and that about 12 telecom server rooms had already been shut down following inspection. Keya has been offering service refunds and may lay off two-thirds of employees as about 40% of its clients, including 10% pending government registration, are facing closure, said the employee.