Six websites were denounced on Wednesday for their unwillingness to remove pulp information by the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (CIIRC) in a move to create a cleaner cyber environment ahead of the Olympics.

The effort, the largest in recent years, was initiated on June 25 by the CIIRC, a non-governmental organization sponsored by the Internet Society of China (ISC), and 50 major websites in the country. The move soon won support from more than 600 websites.

The campaign centered on eliminating obscene pictures posted on websites and search engines since the CIIRC found through investigation that those images dominated the online content.

The CIIRC also scrutinized online pornography videos and articles.

The CIIRC successfully persuaded various websites to delete about 19,183 items related to pornography by sending them a warning notice. For those which refused to make changes, the CIIRC posted a critical notice on its websites.

"Most of the websites feel great pressure from the notice and weed out the pulp items immediately," said Li Jiaming, CIIRC director.

The campaign had also won huge support from the public as more than 110,000 netizens sent words of support.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)