Has China's Green Dam Burst?Ian Paul, PC World
Jul 1, 2009 8:03 am
China did a sudden about-face late yesterday and decided to delay its controversial requirement that all computers sold after July 1 must come with Web filtering software. Called Green Dam Youth Escort, the software package was designed to stop youths from accessing online pornography. Chinese officials had previously stood firm in their decision to enforce the Green Dam requirement, but then China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on Tuesday it had decided to delay mandatory installation of Green Dam, according to Reuters.
Green Dam: It's Not Just for Porn
Despite official claims to the contrary, the Green Dam software was discovered to be blocking more than just pornography. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that Green Dam regularly restricted access to Web pages containing words related to Falun Gong -- a semi-religious movement that has been branded a cult by the Chinese government.
University of Michigan researchers also discovered that Green Dam would block sites related to a small number of political keywords. Entering the phrase, "evil Jiang Zemin" (Jian Zemin is a former Chinese president) for instance, caused a pop-up message to appear labeling the Web content "harmful."
http://www.pcworld.com/ar...een_dam_burst.html
Why would China relent on this?
What's going on in there?
