China delays computer government censorship protocols. Why? Broader implications? - @Heavy - Welcome to The Round Table. Visit often. Post a lot. - The Round Table - Message Board - Yuku

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China delays computer government censorship protocols. Why? Broader implications?

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sear	China delays computer government censorship protocols. Why? Broader implications?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 58530 (07/01/09 10:50 AM) Co-Admin. w/ Grace06 Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	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? "Don't let facts get in the way of thoughts that give you comfort." Elkhorn2
Republic15		#1	[-]
Full-Fledged Member Posts: 499 (07/02/09 01:45 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	It's just government censorship. A computer without a filter is like a Hustler magazine lying around the house for anyone to see. Any kid or teenager can just type in a simple pornographic dot come word and they have access to all the nasty porn mankind have to offer.
sear		#2	[-]
Posts: 58541 (07/02/09 02:37 PM) Co-Admin. w/ Grace06 Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Right. And the Chinese politburo doesn't like that, which is why they established their "green dam" initiative. And so now that they've postponed implementation, it raises a variety of questions which seem to have intriguing answers. We know censorship is important to China. It's important to the U.S. also. But evidently it's not as important as we thought, or perhaps not important as they thought. "Don't let facts get in the way of thoughts that give you comfort." Elkhorn2

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