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Chinese firm fined for bulk spam

By Reuters
Beijing, 22 Aug 2006

A Shenzhen company has been fined for sending bulk junk e-mail in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in China where more than 50 billion spam messages are received a year, state media said today.

China has a prospering cyber-world, hosting 111 million Internet users, 700 000 Web sites and fast-growing online business, but officials say 60% of the e-mail Chinese people receive is spam, or electronic junk mail.

The company in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen was fined 5 000 yuan ($630) for sending a "vast amount" of junk mail since January, the China Daily said. It did not say what the e-mails contained.

"The fine will send a warning to spam senders," the newspaper quoted Zhang Aiping, vice-director of the Guangdong Provincial Administration of Communication, as saying.

Companies or individuals making money illegally by sending junk e-mail could be fined up to 30 000 yuan, the China Daily said.

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