Chinese kids use computers in an Internet cafe in southwest China's Sichuan province. The US spoke out against a new requirement that personal computers sold in China carry a software that filters online content.
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US: China’s Internet filter mandate should be ‘revoked’
By Chris Gaylord | 06.22.09
Just a week before China imposes a nationwide Internet filter, the US government came out against the looming mandate.
On July 1, all computers sold within China must come with special software that can cut off access to questionable online material. The program, called “Green Dam-Youth Escort,” aims to protect kids from stumbling upon violent, pornographic, homosexual, or drug-related websites and images.
However, the US government wants China to rethink the sweeping measure.
“We would like to see the Green Dam mandate revoked, and will continue efforts to convince Chinese authorities to do so,” a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We hope that China will look at the broad array of concerns that the Green Dam mandate has prompted from its own citizens, from global PC companies, and from other governments, and revoke this measure.”
Bryan Zhang, head of Jinhui Computer System Engineering, also stressed that his company designed Green Dam’s so that parents could adjust the settings, but not remove websites from the official black list.
Such controls are still troubling, says the US embassy in China, because it “views with concern any attempt to restrict the free flow of information.”
At the University of Michigan, a team worries that Green Dam has “major security vulnerabilities” that “will significantly weaken China’s computer security” because of faulty programming. More on that here.
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2. Michael | 06.23.09
Who cares what anyone else thinks. It’s China’s right to mandate it, or you can just stop selling your pcs to China, and let the Chinese companies take over your market shares. Your choice.
3. man in china | 06.25.09
most adult in china oppose that so called software,it’s just a joke ,and some people in china concern about the price of the software
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1. Appuhamy | 06.23.09
There is no known rule saying all other nation should follow what the US says. This is only wishful thinking of some imperialists in the US government. The legitimate government of any sovereign nation has the right to do what it sees as beneficial to the citizens of that country. A Big and powerful nation like China, actually, although the Americans are in denial, without a doubt already is the most powerful nation on the planet, should teach them Americans a serious lesson so that they will learn to mind their own business in the future.
To them smart Chinese it is obvious why the Americans are so overly concerned about this matter because Internet is their primary tool to creating dissent inside China.