But activities not causing direct financial damage such as Chen Guangyu experienced are not presently covered by law.

"This is a grey area in cyberspace where rules are lacking," Li said.

At least two online training companies which allegedly taught Web attack-and-defence knowhow were recently exposed by the Chinese media, arousing new worries over possible abuse.

Nang Feng Chuang, a Guangzhou-based news biweekly, recently reported that the Beijing-based online school Hackbase had recruited more than a million members in the past three years.

The majority are young technical engineers, Web administrators and college graduates. Many are keen to learn skills such as stealing online gaming accounts, sneaking into others' mail accounts, or even attacking Web servers, Nang Feng Chuang said.

Some young hackers dream of making big and quick money by blackmailing online gaming companies, a booming business in China, the magazine said. While big online gaming companies have enough money to upgrade defensive systems, small and medium-sized companies often end up reaching compromises with hackers through paying them "advertising fees."

But Wang Xianbing, a security consultant with Hackbase, rubbished the allegations that their school was a "training base for hackers."

"We learn and teach skills merely to improve defensive capabilities," Wang was quoted as saing. "We don't break the law."

Hackbase has even obtained 10 million yuan of venture capital and hoped to build itself into an authorized agency for training web security engineers, Wang said.

But this does not allay Li Xiaodong's worries.

"Like kongfu, these skills can be exercised legally to be sure. But they can play havoc as well," said Li. But he said he doubted most trainees would eventually opt for illegal ways to gain financially.

Guan Zhenyu, a computer engineer with Fujitsu China, shares similar worries.

"Some young geeks are showing off their skills," said Guan. "They know no limits. They don't realize they are on the verge of breaking the law when they use such skills for spying out personal information."

"To bring activities in cyberspace under control, we must draw a clear line between what is permitted and what is not, and also make the hackers fully aware of the law," Li said.

The seventh amendment to China's Criminal Law enacted in Februry extended the scope of computer safety protection from state computers to those for personal use. But relevant civil laws to safeguard personal cyberspace are still wanting.

Liu Deliang, a law professor at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said in his blog that private virtual space should be protected just as real private property.

Since China's online population hit 338 million at the end of June, according to a CINNIC survey in July, "Web safety protection is not only pressing but also arduous," Li Xiaodong said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2009)