HI-TECH TUNES: Many young Chinese download their music from the Internet and listen to it on digital audio players. The picture shows a digital player shop in Beijing (CFP)

China's millions of netizens were recently astonished to find that the government shut down 530 websites that allowed the illegal sharing of audio and video content among users. Authorities said the sites, like peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing giant BitTorrentChina (BTChina), which offers free downloads of music, movies, games and TV shows, did not have the authorized licenses they needed to operate.

Many regular BT users have found that BTChina has been unavailable since early December.

"I thought it was a temporary Internet problem, but then I learned from the news that the government is cleaning up the Internet," said a Beijing resident surnamed Yuan. A savvy downloader, Yuan has stored some 500 Gigabytes of movies on his removable hard disk.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) confirmed that it has been cracking down on providers of illegal audio and video products. The agency has shuttered those services that were not operating with a license to distribute content. A notice on the BTChina website told users SARFT had deleted the site's registration and shut it down.

Another popular Chinese P2P site, VeryCD.com, also went down for a day, which stirred rumors that it, too, had been blacklisted by SARFT. Later, founder Huang Yimeng wrote on his blog that the site was down due to a server problem, but he told Beijing News that he also does not have the required license to operate.

The illegal websites have been ordered to shut down or to delete all links to downloadable films or TV shows. Authorities said their campaign would last until they rectified the problem.

P2P sharing site UUbird.com said in a notice that it would delete all links for downloading TV shows and films "to firmly support and comply with state laws and regulations." VeryCD.com, meanwhile, said it is applying for the necessary license to run a legal operation.

Copyright vs. spirit of sharing

Many Chinese Internet users also favor BT software, the world's most popular P2P technology with over 10 million users worldwide. Statistics from Pirate Bay, the world's largest tracker of BT file-sharing, show that one third of BT users around the globe come from China while the United States comprises 8 percent of the total.

It is commonly known that BT is used to spread pirated content and infringes on copyrights. In April 2009, a Swedish court found that the four men behind the Pirate Bay were guilty of assisting users in infringing copyrights and sentenced each of them to a year in jail.

In China, BT websites have become important sources for pirated material. Cao Yunxia, from SARFT's Online Audio and Video Program Administrative Department, said the agency will continue the crackdown while further regulating licensing because BT websites damage the whole entertainment industry and others that rely upon it.

The closed websites will not be reopened unless they deal with the problem of offering pornographic material and that which is protected by copyright, said Cao.

Licensed video service providers such as the Beijing-based Voole.com support the move. The company's manager told Xinhua News Agency that the closure of BTChina would encourage the use of copyrighted music and movie products.

Unlicensed audio- and video-sharing websites have been under constant scrutiny from the Chinese Government. In December 2007, the country released a document called Regulations on the Administration of Internet-Based Audio-Video Program Services to regulate file-sharing websites.

In 2008, SARFT took down at least 43 illegal video-sharing websites. Throughout 2009, authorities closed or required changes to hundreds more. The most recent campaign to blacklist more than 500 websites including BTChina is just the latest to try to sort out the Internet.

"I know that it's not legal to download those videos. But how can we Chinese get to watch the good foreign TV shows such as the popular Friends or Prison Break or the Big Bang Theory?" said Yuan, the veteran downloader, who is a fan of American entertainment.

The government's massive effort against BT websites has made it harder for netizens to get free material over the Internet. Some have speculated that such a move would only result in a revival of the pirated DVD business, which was popular before Internet file sharing began to dominate.

Well-known Chinese blogger and public intellectual Yao Bo thinks the government needs to do more than just shutter illegal websites. "The Internet society has grown and developed with the spirit of sharing. It is a tough question on how to revise the copyright law accordingly," he said, adding that it is impossible to now close the door after it has been opened.

Some experts hold that in the information era, the development of advanced technology like BT is unavoidable. The key to solving the problem for the benefit of all sides, they say, lies in agreement between regulators, Internet service providers and copyright holders.