China allows more time for controversial internet filter

Jul 1, 2009, 1:56 GMT

Beijing - China has backed down from its Wednesday deadline for computer makers to pre-instal controversial Internet filtering software, the government said, following a backlash against the move inside and outside the country.

The delay in installing the Green Dam Youth Escort firewall is to allow computer manufacturers more time to comply with the new requirement, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement.

The ministry said it will continue to provide free downloads of Green Dam and instal it on more computers at schools and internet cafes.

It said it will continue to 'solicit opinions to perfect the pre- installation plan' and defended the software as 'safe, legal and trustworthy.'

The pre-installation of Green Dam is 'not compulsory' since the software can easily be disabled or uninstalled by computer users, the ministry said.

The delay follows an outcry among China's estimated 300 million internet users and reports that security holes in the system could allow remote monitoring and control of users' computers, and the theft of personal information.

US trade officials sent a letter to their Chinese counterparts last week urging them to revoke the requirement to pre-instal the software, saying it could be used to restrict free speech and raises questions about free trade.

'China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-instal software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues,' US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement.

Hackers have attacked the website of the Chinese maker of the software, Jinhui Computer System Engineering, whose staff have also received death threats, according to Chinese state media reports.

The government said Green Dam is needed to filter out pornographic content, but it is apparently also designed to consolidate existing blocks on politically sensitive websites.

Earlier reports said that officials had already installed the software on some 2.6 million computers in schools by mid-June.

More than 80 per cent of Internet users who responded to online surveys by the popular sina.com website said they would not use the software or would uninstal it from their computers.

China blocks hundreds of websites that are deemed politically sensitive and tries to keep content broadly in line with the ruling Communist Party's ideology.