Inside China Today

Chinese authorities postpone mandatory installation of Green Dam

By Fang Qiong of the SOH Radio Network

The Chinese authorities initially planned to implement the mandatory installation of the Internet censorship software “Green Dam” on all new computers in China starting July 1, 2009. But just before the original launch date, the authorities decided to postpone the requirement, without giving reasons publicly.
According to the authorities, Green Dam is designed to prevent Internet interference and attacks from pornographic websites, but most Chinese netizens and the international community doubt that this is the true intention of the government. It’s believed that this is just another means for the Communist government to further restrict free speech.

Since the Chinese government announced that they would implement Green Dam, many netizens questioned the true intention of the regime, and this was echoed by Western governments, computer manufacturers, and netizens outside of China. Critics are concerned that this is simply a step up by the authorities to censor the Internet in China.

For a long time, it has been speculated that the Chinese government blocks sensitive information on the Internet such as, the June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre and the Persecution of Falun Gong. The government did not deny that they blocked and prevented Chinese citizens from visiting some overseas websites.

Some netizens in China initiated a plan to have an “Internet strike” on July 1st, to protest against the government’s plan of the mandatory installation of Green Dam.

Researchers in the United States say that the Green Dam filtering software is quite vulnerable to attack by hackers.

By Fang Qiong of the SOH Radio Network.

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