China's Internet cleanup

MSN was cited for the large amount of inappropriate
images on its film channel and some "selected pictures"
in its social messaging section, along with 13 other local
sites. Microsoft could not immediately be reached for
comment.

Late on Thursday Beijing issued a progress update on
the 19 sites originally targeted. Only three were deemed
to have done a "relatively good" job cleaning up, and
among those who "need to continue the clean up" is
Google. The firm had taken initial steps but still had
some vulgar pictures on its "photo search" page, the
China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre
said in a report posted on its website
(http://ciirc.china.cn). A Google public relations officer
in Beijing had no comment on the report, but said the
firm abided by Chinese regulations. Baidu fared even
worse and was listed in a group of companies which had
made "ineffective" clean up efforts. "Baidu...has done
some cleaning up, but still has a large amount of vulgar
content," the report said. The company declined
immediate comment.