Ordie
06-18-2009, 12:12 PM
“purifying social civilization,” ?????
How about purifying the air quality first.
June 19, 2009
China Holds Firm on Software Filter, U.S. Firms Say
By EDWARD WONG & ASHLEE VANCE
BEIJING — U.S. computer makers say the Chinese government has not backed down from a requirement that Internet filtering software be installed on all computers sold in China after July 1, despite reports this week that the rule had been relaxed.
Meanwhile, in another sign that Chinese officials are trying to assert more control over the Internet, the city of Beijing wants to recruit 10,000 volunteers by the end of the summer to monitor Internet content, said Ms. Guo, an employee of the Beijing government’s Spiritual Civilization Office.
The plan was presented in a document submitted Tuesday by the Beijing Internet Administration Office during a meeting in which city officials discussed “purifying social civilization,” said Ms. Guo, who would give only her surname. She said she had no additional details on the plan.
The central and local governments use a vast array of programs and human monitors to block access to Internet content that is deemed ****ographic or politically harmful to the Communist Party, like Web sites discussing Tibet or Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement. The system of censorship is nicknamed the Great Firewall, and savvy computer users in China can get around it with software. But the government’s new requirement that computer makers install censorship software on individual machines has inflamed antigovernment sentiment among Chinese computer users.
Many people worry that the software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, will be used to block Web sites with political content even though officials insist it will be used primarily to censor ****ography.
Computer experts have also discovered weaknesses in the software that could allow hackers to hijack computers that have Green Dam installed. Chinese officials say they have ordered the developers to fix these problems.
Trade groups representing the major U.S. computer makers, including Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which have significant market share in China, have asked the government to get rid of its requirement that Green Dam be preinstalled on computers, but have seen no change in the Chinese position.
Four trade groups based in the United States have sent a statement to the Chinese government asking it to “to reconsider implementing its new mandatory filtering software requirement.”
On Wednesday, the major U.S. computer makers said they had yet to hear anything concrete from China regarding making installation of Green Dam optional. Company representatives said the computer makers would refrain from taking a stand until they were presented with a clear position from the Chinese government.
“We are still reviewing it and working with the related trade associations and the government on how it could be applied,” said David Frink, a spokesman for Dell.
Lenovo, the largest computer maker in China, did not respond to requests for comment.
Confusion about the Green Dam mandate was sown Monday when China Daily, the official English-language newspaper, quoted an unidentified official in the software department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as saying that the government was requiring the software to be offered on a CD packaged with new computers or be placed on hard drives as setup files only.
But it soon became clear that the unnamed official was not speaking in an authoritative role. When The New York Times called the ministry’s software department to clarify the government’s position, employees there refused to give a statement. No government official has given any statement this week indicating that the policy has been changed.
On May 19, the ministry issued a directive to computer makers that mandated Green Dam be “preinstalled” on the hard drive of new computers or put on the CD with installation software that usually accompanies computers. A second clause of the directive said Green Dam should also be saved in backup files on the computer.
The directive makes it clear that the government intends to ensure Green Dam be installed and used on new computers and even preserved in a backup version if the computer crashes.
The software and its two Chinese developers are also coming under legal attack by Solid Oak Software, a company based in Santa Barbara, California. The company is accusing the two Chinese developers, Jinhui Computer System Engineering and Dazheng Human Language Technology, of stealing programming code from software called Cybersitter that was developed by Solid Oak.
Solid Oak said it was considering its legal options, and has sent letters to Hewlett-Packard and Dell demanding that the companies halt distribution of any computers with the Green Dam software.
A Jinhui manager acknowledged this week there were similarities between Green Dam and Cybersitter, but denied there had been any piracy.
Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/business/global/19censor.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print
How about purifying the air quality first.
June 19, 2009
China Holds Firm on Software Filter, U.S. Firms Say
By EDWARD WONG & ASHLEE VANCE
BEIJING — U.S. computer makers say the Chinese government has not backed down from a requirement that Internet filtering software be installed on all computers sold in China after July 1, despite reports this week that the rule had been relaxed.
Meanwhile, in another sign that Chinese officials are trying to assert more control over the Internet, the city of Beijing wants to recruit 10,000 volunteers by the end of the summer to monitor Internet content, said Ms. Guo, an employee of the Beijing government’s Spiritual Civilization Office.
The plan was presented in a document submitted Tuesday by the Beijing Internet Administration Office during a meeting in which city officials discussed “purifying social civilization,” said Ms. Guo, who would give only her surname. She said she had no additional details on the plan.
The central and local governments use a vast array of programs and human monitors to block access to Internet content that is deemed ****ographic or politically harmful to the Communist Party, like Web sites discussing Tibet or Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement. The system of censorship is nicknamed the Great Firewall, and savvy computer users in China can get around it with software. But the government’s new requirement that computer makers install censorship software on individual machines has inflamed antigovernment sentiment among Chinese computer users.
Many people worry that the software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, will be used to block Web sites with political content even though officials insist it will be used primarily to censor ****ography.
Computer experts have also discovered weaknesses in the software that could allow hackers to hijack computers that have Green Dam installed. Chinese officials say they have ordered the developers to fix these problems.
Trade groups representing the major U.S. computer makers, including Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which have significant market share in China, have asked the government to get rid of its requirement that Green Dam be preinstalled on computers, but have seen no change in the Chinese position.
Four trade groups based in the United States have sent a statement to the Chinese government asking it to “to reconsider implementing its new mandatory filtering software requirement.”
On Wednesday, the major U.S. computer makers said they had yet to hear anything concrete from China regarding making installation of Green Dam optional. Company representatives said the computer makers would refrain from taking a stand until they were presented with a clear position from the Chinese government.
“We are still reviewing it and working with the related trade associations and the government on how it could be applied,” said David Frink, a spokesman for Dell.
Lenovo, the largest computer maker in China, did not respond to requests for comment.
Confusion about the Green Dam mandate was sown Monday when China Daily, the official English-language newspaper, quoted an unidentified official in the software department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as saying that the government was requiring the software to be offered on a CD packaged with new computers or be placed on hard drives as setup files only.
But it soon became clear that the unnamed official was not speaking in an authoritative role. When The New York Times called the ministry’s software department to clarify the government’s position, employees there refused to give a statement. No government official has given any statement this week indicating that the policy has been changed.
On May 19, the ministry issued a directive to computer makers that mandated Green Dam be “preinstalled” on the hard drive of new computers or put on the CD with installation software that usually accompanies computers. A second clause of the directive said Green Dam should also be saved in backup files on the computer.
The directive makes it clear that the government intends to ensure Green Dam be installed and used on new computers and even preserved in a backup version if the computer crashes.
The software and its two Chinese developers are also coming under legal attack by Solid Oak Software, a company based in Santa Barbara, California. The company is accusing the two Chinese developers, Jinhui Computer System Engineering and Dazheng Human Language Technology, of stealing programming code from software called Cybersitter that was developed by Solid Oak.
Solid Oak said it was considering its legal options, and has sent letters to Hewlett-Packard and Dell demanding that the companies halt distribution of any computers with the Green Dam software.
A Jinhui manager acknowledged this week there were similarities between Green Dam and Cybersitter, but denied there had been any piracy.
Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/business/global/19censor.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print