Censorship software already installed on over 500,000 Chinese computers
Several computer manufacturers have started shipping computers with Green Dam despite a last-minute decision by the Chinese government to delay its introduction.
According to the Chinese government, Green Dam has been downloaded three million times since the end of March and has been installed on 518,000 computers. Almost 7,000 websites in China have also installed the software.
On Tuesday night, the Chinese ministry of Industry and Internet Technology issued a short statement, indefinitely delaying a plan to make Green Dam compulsory on all computers sold on the mainland. The regulation was due to come into force on Wednesday.
The government retreated from the plan after fierce opposition from computer manufacturers, the US government and Chinese internet users.
Chinese web users flooded a cafe in Beijing yesterday to celebrate the climb-down. Dressed in matching t-shirts mocking the program, around 200 people cheered the unlikely triumph. "This is a very rare example for the government to suddenly push back an important decision the night before it is due to be rolled out," said Ai Weiwei, the artist who organised the gathering.
Once Green Dam is installed on a home computer, it links to a central database and automatically filters out all pornography and some politically sensitive content. A spokesman for the US embassy said they welcomed the decision by the government to shelve the project.
According to researchers at the University of Michigan, the installation of Green Dam leaves computers more vulnerable to hacking.
It may also be able to report an individual's web-use back to the Chinese authorities.
However, a number of major computer manufacturers have already started selling computers with the software. Sony and Lenovo, the Chinese company which bought IBM's PC division, have already sold Green Dam compliant machines, while Acer, the Taiwanese manufacturer, said yesterday it intended to comply with the regulation.
Neither Sony or Lenovo were available for comment yesterday. Chinese manufacturers such as Inspur and Hedy have also agreed to use Green Dam.
Meanwhile, HP and Dell have been sent cease-and-desist letters by an American software company warning them not to ship computers with Green Dam because it allegedly infringes US copyright.
Internet activists have called for Barack Obama to make it illegal for technology companies to help authoritarian governments to censor the web.---Telegraph.co.uk
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