from www.nydailynews.com – China unveiled its new secret weapon in the country’s all-out war against Internet pornography – mom.

The Chinese government tapped sixty mothers to form a “Mom jury” tasked with surfing the Web for porn sites that are deemed indecent for young Internet users, the China Daily reported.

Their task will be to ferret out the sites that are potentially offensive and accessible for children – and alert government watchdog agencies to take further action. A pool of 200 more mothers is said to be waiting in the wings to join the indecency hunt.

The move is part of the Chinese government’s campaign to “purify the social environment,” which has led to the shut down and blocking of 15,000 Web sites, the country’s official state news agency, Xinhua, reported.

The campaign, launched on Dec. 8, is expected to be wrapped up by May.

“The flooding lewd information online has seriously harmed the growth of minors, undermined social morality and resulted in crimes,” the Chinese Supreme People’s Court said in a statement released Thursday.

China recently has become more aggressive with its Internet policing policies, and is being accused of backing last month’s hacker attacks on Google’s Chinese-language search engine, which the company says targeted the email accounts of human rights activists. Google is threatening to pull its offices from the country over the cyber-attacks and Web censorship issues.

“Google sets a strong example in standing up to the Chinese government’s continued failure to respect the fundamental human rights of free expression and privacy,” Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin said Wednesday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi tried to calm international criticism over China’s Internet policies during a visit to Paris.

“The Internet in China is completely open and China is one of the most dynamic markets in the field of Internet,” Jiechi told reporters on Wednesday.