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Read and compare articles, opinions and analyses gathered from the best news sources around the globe.
China wants new computers to be sold with a filtering software. (Image: China News Service)
Latest world viewpoints
Welcome Big Brother?
"We only provide an option for the computer users, especially the parents of minors," Zhang Chenmin on CRI
“In addition to restricting the internet sites that its citizens may see, China can use the Green Dam software to control the computers with which its people view the internet.” Huffington Post
If there is anything that Western people hold sacred, it is the concept of personal freedom. What then is the global reaction to China's directive that beginning July 1, all new computers sold should come with an anti-pornography filter?
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has stood firm on its deadline despite the public's objections, China Daily reports. Beijing Review also has an article saying that the government felt the 47.1 million yuan (4.35 million euros) it has invested in purchasing a one-year exclusive right to use the Green Dam software is justified because of the amount of “harmful information” that could be found on the internet.
Reuters picks up the news from China of a boycott on July 1, called by artist Ai Weiwei. Posting on Twitter, Ai urged China's netizens to stop all online activities on the day the Green Dam software is released. The United States has also stepped into the fray, according to CNet, saying that the regulation could negatively affect trade relations with China.
The Chinese government has said that the installation of Green Dam is not mandatory and it requires computer manufacturers only to install the software package on the computer's hard drive or on a separate CD that will be shipped with the new hardware. If people still have a choice whether to use the software at all, what is all the fuss about?
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| China | Europe | North-America | From elsewhere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-porn Filter Software Stirs up Disputes in China CRI - 11th June 2009 Chinese government's decision to provide computers with software packages for filtering online pornographic contents has received cautious welcome from PC makers, yet many Internet users are skeptical of the software's capacity. Beijing to recruit tens of thousands of "Internet supervision volunteers" Xinhua - 19th June 2009 Beijing will recruit an army of tens of thousands of volunteers by the end of this year to help strip "lewd" content off the Internet, the Capital Civic Enhancement Committee Office (CCECO) said here Friday. Green Dam, Google and Internet regulation People's Daily Online - 24th June 2009 The line between government regulation and public legal rights sometimes is difficult to draw, and it seems especially so in regulating the Internet. Green Dam live date 'unchanged' China Daily - 23rd June 2009 China will not back away from its July 1 launch date for the controversial anti-pornography computer filter Green Dam Youth Escort, a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) source said. 'Green Dam' developers harassed by threat calls China.org.cn - 24th June 2009 The head of a software company in central China's Henan Province said Wednesday that his company had been harassed by hacker attacks and threat calls because of its controversial product - the Internet filter software "Green Dam". A Green Storm On the Internet Beijing Review - 21st June 2009 Beginning July 1, all computers sold in China will come with filtering software either pre-installed on the system or on a compact disc that comes with it, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on May 19. Beijing says no change in filtering software directive Taipei Times - 17th June 2009 China said it hasn’t changed last month’s directive that PCs sold in the country contain state-backed anti-pornography software, dismissing reports that the government had altered the requirement. |
Internet boycott calls to mark China filter debut Reuters - 22nd June 2009 Chinese Internet users are calling on fellow web surfers to stay offline on July 1, the debut of a controversial software filter that critics say the Chinese government is using to tighten censorship. China carries on with censorship plan, as Google capitulates Guardian - 23rd June 2009 China has said it will continue with its plans to force every computer in the country to run a controversial filtering program that will further restrict the activities of web surfers. US firm warns PC makers over Chinese software Financial Times - 17th June 2009 Solid Oak, the developer of one of the US’ leading net nanny software products, has started legal action to stop HP and Dell from shipping PCs equipped with a Chinese censorship software that it alleges contains codes stolen from Solid Oak’s products. Chinese firm admits security hole The Inquirer, UK - 17th June 2009 Jiangmin, the Chinese software house behind the Internet filter that's being mandated by the glorious Peoples Republic, has admitted that its "Green Dam Youth Escort" has a serious security vulnerability. China gets tough on Google Radio86 - 26th June 2009 China stepped up accusations that Google is spreading lewd content over the internet, a day after US officials voiced concern about the Green Dam filtering software. Bruxelles appelle la Chine à renoncer au filtrage d'internet la-Croix (AFP) - 26th June 2009 La Commission européenne a appelé vendredi la Chine à reporter la mise en oeuvre de son logiciel de filtrage des contenus pornographiques sur internet, estimant qu'il visait à "censurer" la toile et à "limiter la liberté d'expression". Censure d'internet : la Chine persiste et signe La Tribune - 25th June 2009 Non content de détenir le titre de champion du monde de la censure sur Internet, la Chine ne donne aucun signe de détente. Au contraire. Sa dernière invective : l'espionnage de ses quelque 250 millions d'internautes via un logiciel de filtrage installé sur tous les ordinateurs vendus sur son territoire. Pékin s'apprête à lancer son logiciel de censure Radio France Internationale - 24th June 2009 La Chine exige que chaque ordinateur individuel vendu dans le pays à partir du 1er juillet le soit avec un logiciel de contrôle, la raison invoquée : bloquer les sites pornographiques. Un contrôle sans précédent sur les ordinateurs personnels est en train de ce mettre en place dans le pays. |
U.S. Formally Protests China’s Web-Filter Requirement, FT Says Bloomberg - 21st June 2009 The U.S. formally lodged a complaint with China on its plan to require Internet filtering software on all personal computers, the Financial Times said. Microsoft and Chinese Censorship New York Times - 24th June 2009 A couple of days ago, I heard that the new Microsoft search engine, Bing, censors results in Chinese-language searches, even if they are conducted outside China. With the help of a coterie of Chinese friends around the globe, I tested this and found it’s true. U.S. asks China to drop censoring software requirement for PCs CNet - 24th June 2009 The U.S. Trade Representative has written a letter to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce asking that the country drop its requirement that all new PCs sold in China have special filtering software installed. Why China's leaders need to worry about recent events in Iran: Twitter trumps the Great Firewall Huffington Post - 24th June 2009 Both Iran and China are modernizing autocracies committed by a combination of ideology and fear to maintaining control over their peoples' access to information. And, to a remarkable degree, they have been successful in doing so. Beijing eases back on harsh plan for online censorship The Globe and Mail, Canada - 20th June 2009 It took a feisty community of bloggers, a swell of satirical cartoons and some petitioning by one of the country's best-known rights lawyers, but the Chinese government appears to have taken a slight step backward in its plan to install intrusive filtering software on all new computers from July 1. |
China raises 'Great Fire Wall' on internet ABC Australia - 24th June 2009 The phenomenal growth of the Google search engine in China may be about to end, after authorities accused it of allowing access to pornography - a claim that observers see as pretext for a crackdown on internet freedom. China seeks to plug holes in porn firewall Times of India - 16th June 2009 China’s censors find themselves in an uncomfortable position within days of ordering the nation that all computers bought after July 1 should contain specific software to filter out pornography. The ministry of industry and information technology has now found “a series of security vulnerabilities” in the software and asked its producer to immediately apply new patches. Google forced to shut sites The Australian - 22nd June 2009 The attack on Google was issued under a "pornography" crackdown and comes only two weeks after the government surprised its media and technology sector by introducing the "Green Dam Youth Escort" filtering software onto every new computer sold after July 1. China shuts even sex health sites Times of India - 26th June 2009 Ordinary web users in China will be banned from surfing sex-related medical and research websites from next month, amid an internet crackdown on pornographic online content, according to new regulations. |
