China backs down over Green Dam internet monitoring software

August 14, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Internet users in China will now be free to decide whether or not to install the monitoring software.

www.independent.ie

China has dropped plans to force all its computer users to install controversial Green Dam internet monitoring software following a storm of protest at home and abroad.

In what was being seen as a climbdown on the issue, China’s industry and information technology minister, Li Yizhong, said that the “Green Dam Youth Escort” software would now be “voluntary”, leaving users free to decide whether or not to install it.

“When users buy computers, they will be provided the software disk. It is up to the buyers to decide use it or not,” he said in Beijing.

His remarks come three months after China announced that all computers sold in the country after July 1 would be required to pre-install the Green Dam software, officially as a measure to protect children and combat pornography on the web.

The move was suspended indefinitely in June, however, in the face of overwhelming pressure from Chinese internet users who feared the software was a back-door attempt at tightening already strict censorship of the internet.

They were joined by foreign computer manufacturers, 22 international chambers of commerce and the US Government who all wrote official letters asking the Chinese government to reconsider its “Green Dam” order, which was said to be impractical and anti-competitive.

Mr Li said internet users and computer manufacturers had misunderstood the initial statement by his ministry which he said had failed to “clarify the issue” and given the erroneous impression that installation was compulsory.

He added that his ministry had taken into consideration submissions from American and European chambers of commerce over whether the initial order conformed to World Trade Organisation rules and could be used to breach the privacy of internet users. Read full article…