Army of Cyber Censors to Man 'Great Firewall of China'

The city of Beijing  is planning to hire thousands on Internet censors in a fresh sign of the authorities' attempts to tighten their grip on cyberspace, reports 'Financial Times' in a June 18 article.

The city will seek to employ at least 10,000 "Internet volunteers" before the end of this year to monitor "harmful" websites and content, said an official at the municipal authority's information office.

Chinese local governments and Communist party branches often pay web commentators to influence online opinion. But it is unusual for officials to admit the practice and the big recruitment drive gives a rare view of the resources China uses to try to control the Internet.

The move comes amid an outcry over the national government's attempt to ensure that every new personal computer sold in China is equipped with web filtering software.

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