Netizen privacy must be protected on the Internet and searches for graphic or revealing sites should be banned and those who initiated them should be punished, an official of China's top Internet regulator said.

Liu Zhengrong, director of the information coordination bureau with the State Internet Information Office, said on Monday that it was morally wrong and illegal to expose people's privacy on the Internet.

Those who initiated searches for "human-flesh" (looking for detailed private information on the Internet) should be punished strictly, he told Global Times.

Cyberspace should be regulated in line with laws and netizens should not resort to Internet sites that harmed or degraded others, Liu said.

The official was commenting on an incident in which a highschool girl in Lufeng city, Guangdong province, committed suicide after she was accused of stealing by a costume manager who exposed her information on a website.