June 10, 2009: The Chinese censorship authorities have a new target – PC manufacturers.
By the end of June 09, China wants all personal computer manufacturers, including US-based Dell, HP, and Apple, to install censorship software prior to sale in China. The software called ‘Green Dam,’ developed by the Chinese military, is ostensibly purposed for the filtering of pornography.
However, many believe the software may act like spyware to allow the authorities to not only filter pornography, but to filter and track computer activity online or offline that is considered a threat to the State.
Tuesday, a number of US-based trade associations put out this brief statement:
“The Information Technology Industry Council, the Software & Information Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and TechAmerica urge the Chinese government to reconsider implementing its new mandatory filtering software requirement and would welcome the opportunity for a meaningful dialogue”.
“We believe there should be an open and healthy dialogue on how parental control software can be offered in the market in ways that ensure privacy, system reliability, freedom of expression, the free flow of information, security and user choice”.
While the sentiment is right, it falls short of an appropriate response. The PC industry is in for a big wake-up call.
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