China Pulls Back From Edict on Web-Filtering Software Wall Street Journal (08/14/09) P. A7; Back, Aaron
as it appeared in the August 14, 2009 edition of ACM TechNews.
China has decided not to require that Internet-filtering software be installed on new personal computers, but it will install the software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, on computers at schools, Internet cafes, and other public places. China's Li Yizhong says the software was always intended to be optional, not mandatory, and that the regulations were unclear when first released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In May, China notified domestic and foreign computer manufacturers that they would be required to ship the filtering software with all computers sold in China by July 1, but on June 30 a ministry spokesman announced that computer makers had not had sufficient time to prepare for the requirement and that pre-installation of the software could be postponed. Li says the ministry's intention was always to give parents and individuals the voluntary option to install the software, and that China "fully respects everyone's freedom to choose." However, it is still unclear whether China may eventually require computer makers to package the software on a separate disk to be shipped with their PCs. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing says the U.S. government welcomes the news that the Chinese government will not require the installation of Green Dam software on all computers. Li did note that the software is being improved, and a new, better version of the software could be introduced. View Full Article
