A ministry-level order concerning the inclusion of filtering software with all computers sold in China is garnering mixed reactions from PC manufacturers and raising questions as to its feasibility and whether the new law violates user rights. Some, however, have welcomed the measure as "beneficial to Chinese youth."

The move will require all personal computers sold in China, starting July 1, to include software "aimed at blocking and filtering some unhealthy content, including pornography and violence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday, defending the directive.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice last month announcing that PCs will have to include the Web-filtering software, called "Green Dam-Youth Escort," pre-installed or enclosed on a CD.

An unnamed official with the ministry said yesterday that the move is aimed at purifying the online environment and protecting juvenile Internet users from pornography and harmful content on the Web, at the request of millions of parents, educators and students.

The ministry said the software will be free to use for the first year, as the government will pay for the development and installation, a campaign that is said to cost as much as 40 million yuan ($5.7 million).

Lenovo, China's largest PC manufacturer, said it was aware of the policy.
"We are working on possible ways to install the program on our products and discussing some details with relevant departments," Lenovo Vice President Liu Jie told news portal Tencent, adding that no timetable has been set to install the program on all the company's computers.

Shandong-based PC manufacturer Inspur, however, told the Global Times it had already installed the software on its products.

Foreign computer producers apparently have to address the same issue.
An employee with Apple China, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Global Times, "While dealing with Chinese official decisions, the company has to consult its headquarters in the United States for approval. But due to the particularity of the Chinese market, the company has no alternatives but to follow local rules."

Software giant Microsoft said late Monday that the order "needs to be properly addressed."

A company spokesperson said in a statement to AFP that "Microsoft believes that the availability of appropriate parental control tools is an important societal consideration for industry and governments around the world."

"At the same time, Microsoft is committed to helping advance the free flow of information and encouraging transparency, deliberation and restraint with respect to Internet governance," the spokesman said.

However, an anonymous source with a leading Chinese provider of network solutions doubted the feasibility of the requirement, as many local producers do not install any operating system on their products, to save money. Requiring the installation of the Green Dam means that they have to install an operating system now.

"A computer installed with Windows XP costs 500 to 600 yuan ($74 to $88) more than a bare one (one not installed with an operating system)," the source revealed. "Will the government cover the additional cost?"

Directive questioned by Web users

The mandatory software is being questioned for its alleged violation of people's privacy and their right of choice.

The move violates people's right of choice and any government department should not issue such a mandatory regulation by administrative means, Yu Guoming, vice dean of the Renmin University School of Journalism, told the Global Times.

Such a restriction on people's right to surf the Internet is wrong, as the Internet users who access websites featuring pornographic content are exempt from legal punishment, Yu said.

The developer said the software is effective in filtering bad and indecent text and image contents.

But some Web users in China, a country that boasts the world's largest online population, estimated at 300 million, questioned the intention of the policy.

"What is the definition of the so-called bad content that this software is designed to filter? Why should the taxpayers bear the cost of such mandatory but meaningless installations?" a Web user said in a post on Sohu.com.

Washington-based Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said in a report by the AP yesterday that "Blocking access to pornography sounds like an acceptable goal. But the problem is that it's all too easy to use the same technology to expand the censorship."

Filter urged to protect youth

Fang Binxing, the president of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said he had been a strong advocator of the installation of green filtering software on computers.

"I am very glad that the government paid the bill for the software, because it is beneficial to Chinese youth," Fang told the Global Times.

Fang also urged the Chinese government to set up a specialized and independent agency to define what is illegal and harmful information, instead of letting software developers set the definition, and to coordinate with related government bodies.

Internet management depends on, Fang said, legislation, administration, industrial self-regulation and technological support.

Commentators told the Global Times that widespread criticism was largely due to the lack of transparency on the part of the Ministry of Industry and Information

Source: The Global Times