China is planning to force computer manufacturers to install software on
all new personal computers that would filter out "unhealthy" information,
report the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without
Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Ostensibly to protect young people from "harmful content", especially
pornography, the "Green Dam" software was created by the military-backed
company Jinhui. It must be preloaded - preinstalled or enclosed on a CD -
on all PCs to be sold in
"The idea that
40 million PCs sold annually in the country to protect the public raises
suspicion that the authorities have ulterior and more sinister motives,"
said CPJ.
RSF is urging the companies that sell computers to the Chinese market not
to comply with the instruction, "which will make them accomplices to
censorship."
In May, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told computer
manufacturing companies that they had six weeks to install the software,
which would be paid for by public funds in the first year. According to
"The Wall Street Journal", the software would link PCs with a regularly
updated database of banned sites and block access to those addresses.
According to the "Guardian", in the face of public opposition
says the software will not be compulsory. "PC makers are only required to
save the set-up files of the program in the hard drives of the computers,
or provide CD-ROMs containing the program with their PC packages," the
English-language "China Daily" quoted an official saying on 15 June.
"The users have the final say on the installation of the Green Dam Youth
Escort, so it is misleading to say the government compels PC users to use
the software ... The government's role is limited to having the software
developed and providing it free," says the paper.
RSF reports that since March, the software has been downloaded three
million times, is reportedly used in 2,279 schools and has been installed
in some 518,000 computers. The companies Lenovo, Inspur and Hedy have
apparently already installed the software in 52 million computers.
"The appearance of such a strict directive shows the need to protect
foreign companies operating in
laws. This is why we support the need for a law like the Global Online
Freedom Act, that makes it possible to stand up to the Chinese government
in this kind of situation," said RSF.
known as the Great Firewall, which blocks access to a range of content,
from pornography to politically sensitive sites. Such sites have included
those promoting Tibetan independence or referring to the
massacre and the pro-democracy group Charter 08.
But that system blocks content at the network level, and many users
circumvent it. The new method could give the government a way to tighten
its control.
U.S. Internet companies have for years wrestled with demands from the
Chinese government to censor content or share potentially private data with
police. Last year Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft joined human rights and
press freedom groups to announce a set of guidelines for how they would
comply with censorship requests from countries like
Global Network Initiative, the group does not include any computer hardware
makers.
Related stories on IFEX.org:
- Government tightens clamps on Internet usage:
http://www.ifex.org/china/2009/06/10/internet_restrictions/
More on the web:
- Seeing red over green: China to install censorship software (CPJ):
http://cpj.org/blog/2009/06/seeing-red-over-green-china-to-pre-install-censors.php
- China backs down over controversial censorship software (Guardian):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/16/china-backs-down-censorship-software
- China squeezes PC makers (The Wall Street Journal):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124440211524192081.html
No comments:
Post a Comment