China has shut down a number of online porn and piracy sites as part of its crackdown on internet smut and other illicit content. The clampdown has resulted in arrests in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Anhui and Hubei.

In eastern China's Anhui province seven warez sites and 53 pornographic or violent games websites got the chop. Elsewhere three "internet piracy" rings in the central province of Hubei were smashed up, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports.

Suspects Lu Xiaoliang and Chen Liang were accused of making 1m Yuan ($125K) running an illicit version of the online game Legend from servers based in the province. Dong Yaping faces similar charges over similar allegations he made 260,000 Yuan ($32,500) supporting a network of Legend 3 gamers without authorisation. In a third case, Jiang Jinsong was fined 100,000 yuan and suffered the confiscation of five servers over allegations he made a mint offering illicit movie downloads.

In south China's Guangdong province, 431,630 pirated books were confiscated after raids on two warehouses near Shenzhen that resulted in the arrest of seven people. The national office for anti-porn and anti-piracy told Xinhua the clampdown is part of ongoing efforts to dismantle online piracy and pornographic networks in the country. ®

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