Previously blogged, China’s Internet Police, and now back with new animated, region-customized imagery. They float on-screen, on the bottom left, to show they’re watching. They also sometimes get in the way of the text (which I don’t quite understand).
Click on them will bring you to the their BBS, like this (please bear with my rough translation) Chongqing Urban Safety Public Annoucements Internet Saftey BBS. There netizens can ask them questions, and, at least in this case, they respond assuming the form of a slick, well-spoken avatar.
Here he is, dispensing advice about stolen QQ numbers and property:
Do you happen to know if these floating Internet police are enforced on all websites or would the webmaster choose to display them on their website? Are there any advantages to displaying the Internet Police logo (besides a link to the BBS)
I’m not sure if it’s a choice or not, I assume it is usually not their choice (though maybe there are a few exceptions). As for advantages — nothing else I can think of.