Posted by Richard Koman @ June 8, 2009 @ 8:38 AM
Categories: Censorship, China
Tags: Software, China, PC, Spyware, Government..., Internet, Tools &
Techniques, Productivity, Vertical Industries, Management
23 TalkBacks
There comes a time when despite the allure of the market, Western
industry should band together and turn its back on China. A time when
the computer and Internet industry realizes that the
censorship-and-repression tax the government is intent on levying is too
high a price to pay.
Is this, at long last, that moment? Well, it's doubtful. But it should be.
Starting July 1, computers sold in China must include
government-provided spyware that blocks pornography and political
dissent from Chinese citizens' view, The New York Times reports,
following up a Wall Street Journal report.
Called "Green Dam" — green being a foil to the yellow smut of
pornography — the software is designed to filter out sexually explicit
images and words, according to the company that designed it. Computer
experts, however, warn that once installed, the software could be
directed to block all manner of content or allow the government to
monitor Internet use and collect personal information.
PC makers are said to be irritated with the new rules but presumably not
enough to buck the government. The major irritation seems to be that
July 1 isn't enough time to add the software to massive production lines.
Beyond the nettlesome issue of abetting government censorship, they
said six weeks was not enough time to shift production on such a large
scale. "Many of us are going to take it in the neck with this mandate,"
said one executive. "It has put people into five-alarm mode."
Go there read more...
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4906
Don
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