A Henan netizen has filed a lawsuit against a local news group for blocking his IP address to prevent him from commenting on its website's bulletin board.

Wang Haiyang, 60, who runs a private company, was blacklisted last year by www.dahe.cn, a news portal belonging to Dahe Daily News Group in Henan Province, for using abusive language during online debates.

It is the first time a virtual argument has led to a real lawsuit in China, and the case is raising concerns nationwide.

Wang wants the company to unblock his IP address, issue a public apology and pay him 48,000 yuan ($6,400) in "spiritual compensation" or compensation for mental suffering.

The hearing is expected to begin later this month.

The news group said that they blocked Wang because he regularly scolded others with abusive and insulting words on its bulletin board.

Wang posted 5,664 bulletins since registering on the site in 2004, 460 of which were deleted by administrators because of abusive language. The website said administrators repeatedly warned Wang about his language. But because Wang repeatedly refused to heed the warnings, administrators blocked Wang late last year.

However, Wang allegedly changed user names and reappeared on the website repeatedly. Eventually, administrators blocked all IP addresses from Wang's community at Kaifeng Railcom.

According to a national Internet security regulation: "The use of the Internet for insulting others or fabricating facts to slander others constitutes a crime and should indicate criminal responsibility in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law."

"The website's approach is certainly wrong. Why should they block all IP addresses from Kaifeng Railcom? The method is a bit extreme. In order to block one person, they infringed upon so many others' rights. This is obvious violation of the law and is unfair to the majority."

Guo Kaifeng, netizen

"There should be a clear definition in the law's provisions on what constitutes an infringement of people's legal rights. However, there is no clear stipulation on infringement when it comes to the Internet.

"Almost every website has abusive language, but China's legal provisions do not elaborate on what specific types of abusive language relate to violations of legal rights. Legally speaking, all rights are enjoyed under certain constraints; the Internet is no exception."

Tian Tucheng, professor of the law school of Zhengzhou University

"Using abusive language against others is undoubtedly contrary to society's concept of morality - especially by using media. Although the network is a virtual world, it is still a form of media. And with a massive amount of information, a broad reach and rapid dissemination, the Internet is a very powerful medium. Therefore, bad information will damage society deeply. Sometimes, moral constraints are ineffective, so clear legal norms are needed."

Kang Shaoxia, Henan resident

"Every registered netizen should first read and unconditionally comply with our 'Civilized Internet Ordinance' to become a user of our platform. The netizens use our service, so they should obey our rules. Without such management, the orderliness of our network would give way to chaos. Such rules are also in accordance with national and global practices.

"Wang Haiyang is not the only person we have blocked. As long as the Internet users use abusive language, we must block their IP addresses."

Zhu Zhenjiang, legal advisor for Dahe Daily

(China Daily 12/07/2007 page5)