Authorities in a Chinese province where Internet users exposed an allegedly corrupt official's taste for luxury have made posting such information illegal, state media reported Tuesday.
The ruling Communist Party's parliament in eastern Jiangsu province approved a law making it illegal for people in the city of Xuzhou to publish "private information" on the Internet, the China Daily reported.
The law's approval at the annual provincial assembly underscores the increasing attention authorities are paying to blogs and Internet forums.
Zhou Jiugeng, the head of a district housing bureau in Jiangsu's capital, Nanjing, was dismissed last month after web users posted photos of him wearing a 100,000-yuan (14,600-dollar) watch and smoking 150-yuan-a-pack cigarettes.
The items were deemed to be beyond the means of someone living on a civil servant's relatively modest salary, and the Internet pressure was one of the reasons for the government being forced to take action.
But now, anyone in Xuzhou who posts "private information" online will be fined up to 5,000 yuan and could be barred from using the Internet for six months, the newspaper reported, citing a government notice.
However, under Chinese law, publishing information about people is legal as long as it is accurate, Beijing lawyer Dong Zhengwei was quoted as saying in the China Daily.
"It's fair for members of the public to monitor public officials, but under the new rules if they publish things about them that are not true they will be breaking the law," he told the newspaper.
The ruling Communist Party's parliament in eastern Jiangsu province approved a law making it illegal for people in the city of Xuzhou to publish "private information" on the Internet, the China Daily reported.
The law's approval at the annual provincial assembly underscores the increasing attention authorities are paying to blogs and Internet forums.
Zhou Jiugeng, the head of a district housing bureau in Jiangsu's capital, Nanjing, was dismissed last month after web users posted photos of him wearing a 100,000-yuan (14,600-dollar) watch and smoking 150-yuan-a-pack cigarettes.
The items were deemed to be beyond the means of someone living on a civil servant's relatively modest salary, and the Internet pressure was one of the reasons for the government being forced to take action.
But now, anyone in Xuzhou who posts "private information" online will be fined up to 5,000 yuan and could be barred from using the Internet for six months, the newspaper reported, citing a government notice.
However, under Chinese law, publishing information about people is legal as long as it is accurate, Beijing lawyer Dong Zhengwei was quoted as saying in the China Daily.
"It's fair for members of the public to monitor public officials, but under the new rules if they publish things about them that are not true they will be breaking the law," he told the newspaper.
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