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This should be the way to go!
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05:55 AM Jun 09, 2009
BEIJING - China wants all personal computers sold domestically to come with software that blocks access to online pornography, which it has banned, the main developer of the software said yesterday.
The software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, targets online porn by preventing computers from accessing sites with pornographic pictures or language, Mr Zhang Chenmin, general manager of Jinhui Computer System Engineering, told AP.
Jinhui was compiling a database of the blocked sites.
The software could also be used to block other kinds of websites, depending on keywords, he said, adding that consumers can uninstall the software if they do not want it.
Parents can develop their own lists of sites to be added to the database of blacklisted sites.
The Chinese government routinely blocks political sites, especially those it considers socially destabilising, such as sites that challenge the ruling Communist Party.
Mr Zhang said Jinhui signed a 21 million yuan ($4.5 million) contract with the Chinese government last May to develop the software and distribute it to personal computer-makers free of charge within one year, to be included with units meant for domestic sale.
According to the Wall Street Journal, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told personal computer-makers that PCs sold in China as of July 1 must be preloaded with the software. The move is to prevent "harmful" information from influencing young people.
The programme would either be installed on the hard drive or enclosed on a compact disc, the paper reported, adding that PC makers would be required to tell authorities how many PCs they have shipped with the software.
Foreign industry officials who examined the software were quoted in the report as saying it could transmit personal information and make them vulnerable to hacking.
China, which has the world's largest population of Internet users at more than 250 million, this year launched a nationwide crackdown on Internet pornography, which is banned in China.
More than 1,900 websites have since been shut down. AGENCIES
From TODAY, World – Tuesday, 09-Jun-2009
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