China Issues Anti-Virus Regulation

The regulation went into immediate effect after it was issued Wednesday. It calls on departments, companies and individuals to report any outbreak of computer virus promptly, CCTV reports.

The regulation prohibits work units or individuals from intentionally creating or distributing computer viruses. Breaches of the regulation will result in fines from one thousand to 30 thousand yuan, or 120 to 3 thousand 600 US dollars. Severe breaches will be prosecuted under criminal law.

A spokesman for the Public Security Ministry said that the regulation is aimed at cutting the number of computer viruses currently active in China.

However the official noted that China's computer systems had so far escaped serious losses from last week's outbreak of Love Bug virus. The worst hit group in China was email users with contacts abroad.

Currently there are some 40 thousand viruses active worldwide. Each month about 300 new viruses are created and released into systems, including the Internet.

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