BEIJING — Chinese software developers have created what they’re calling a “smart tool” for ferreting out pornography on the Web.Developed by engineers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Acoustics, the software reportedly is able to examine Chinese characters in context and differentiate between material that comprises a critique of porn and porn itself.

“The system functions as a search engine,” lead developer Zhang Quan told state media outlet Xinhua. “You input a website address, and it will automatically open every page on the site and examine words, sentences and paragraphs for pornographic materials. It is smarter than keyword-based search engines, because it can discern articles which are critiquing porn materials from those which are merely talking dirty.”

Zhang said he and his colleagues anticipate the software will be useful in the government’s crackdown on online smut.

“We anticipate that many government organizations and website operators will find it useful, and we will soon put the software into the market,” he told Xinhua.

Although the software reportedly is able to point out ambiguous photographs and audiovisual materials so censors may examine them individually, developers said its strength lies in its ability to deal with the written word.

“We have yet to find an effective way for audiovisual examination, which needs further advanced technology,” Zhang told Xinhua.

The software has been in beta phase since December, one month before the Chinese government announced a crackdown on internet material capable of “corrupting youth and morals.” On January 5th, seven governmental departments launched a dedicated, 30-day effort to clean up the Web. By the end of the campaign, 1,911 “inappropriate” websites had been shut down and 41 people had been “detained” for publishing porn online.