Police detain man for Internet porn

A man in Qianguo county, Jilin province, was detained 15 days and fined 3,000 yuan ($471) for downloading pornographic videos to his home computer, South China Metropolis Daily reported on June 15.

The man first posted his story online on June 10, saying that police found 95 porn videos in his computer and then seized it.

"The police said that I copied porn films and broke the law. Who can tell me the punishment was reasonable?" the man asked in the post.

Later, on June 13, the man posted again, saying three policemen came to his house on March 22 and took him with his computer to the police station for investigation.

"They found the porn films and asked me where I downloaded them. I said I had gotten them from the Internet and they asked me if I upload them. I said no. Then they confiscated my computer without a receipt to me and punished me," the man wrote in his post.

The man told South China Metropolis Daily that he was first taken for investigation after he forwarded a picture a man sitting in a police car to an online communication platform operated by the search engine Baidu. Then police found the porn videos on his computer.

He told the newspaper that the police finally returned his computer after he threatened to sue.

He also said the policeman who handled the case disclosed his personal information online when replying to his post.

When reached by South China Metropolis Daily on Thursday, the policeman in charge declined to be interviewed.

Soon the reply, including the personal information, was deleted online.

The man said he had submitted applications for an administrative reconsideration of the punishment and is still waiting for the result.

According to Article 68 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, those who produce, transport, copy, sell or rent obscene books, pictures, video, and audio or use computer information network, telephone and other communication tools to disseminate obscene information, will be detained for 10 to 15 days and fined 3,000 yuan.