JustGood:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8118055.stm

US objects to China's net filter

The US has called on China to scrap its plan to put net-filtering software on all its computers.

It said that China's proposals would violate its free trade obligations, weaken computer security and raise serious censorship concerns.

China has demanded that all computers come supplied with software called Green Dam from 1 July, which it says would filter out pornographic content.
The proposals have been criticised even within China.

The US's objections also came a day after it filed an unfair trade complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over raw material exports.

The latest comment raises the concern about a broader trade war between the US and China over everything from computer security to chicken poultry imports.

'Unjustified'

"Mandating technically flawed Green Dam software and denying manufacturers and consumers freedom to select filtering software is an unnecessary and unjustified means to achieve that objective, and poses a serious barrier to trade," said US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

The US is now complaining that putting such pressure on manufacturers to pre-install or supply the software would violate China's WTO free trade obligations.

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

The Green Dam Youth Escort software was created to stop people looking at "offensive" content such as pornographic or violent websites, China has said.

But China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology later said that use of the software was not compulsory and that it was possible to uninstall the program.

Tests carried out on Green Dam outside China also showed that it left PCs open to many different security risks, including being hijacked.

Petitions calling for Green Dam to be scrapped have circulated widely within China, which has the world's largest net-using population.

Meanwhile, it appeared that China had blocked users of Google in China from using the search engine.

Users in Beijing and Shanghai said they could not access Google's main site, its Chinese-language version nor its mail services.

"We have found that Google has spread a lot of pornographic content, which is a serious violation of Chinese laws and regulations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

He urged the company to abide by local rules, but said he had no specific details on the outage.

The disruption comes a week after China accused Google of deliberately linking to "pornographic and vulgar" content and ordered it to stop.

Google said it was looking to why there was an outage.

ElRazur:

This is not about porn, this is about China wanting to control everything its citizens are doing.

ElRazur:

It represses, gags and encrouch on freedom. Fundamental human freedom. The Uk have proper courts and laws where things can be challenged. When it comes to controlling citizens, comparing china with Uk is not a fair comparison. No?

JustGood:

And you and I are the appointed universal custodians of all knowledge who are able to determine good and bad? We also have the right to determine what is good for other nations?

ElRazur:

Say what? You asked a question you got an answer. Can we stick to the points at hand instead of bringing in another "Biina style" of questioning "authority".

Where have I determine what is good for other nations specifically? Gosh.

JustGood:

Perhaps you did not get my drift. The questions were meant to make you think about your statement. You have concluded that is is alright for the UK to do the same thing that you seem to want to condemn China for. So you need to ask yourself who determines the right way to do anything in this world? Why cant the Chinese government decide how it wants to rule its Nation? Why must the Chinese government do things exactly the same way that the UK and US governments are doing things?

Does it not also amount to encroachment to try and tell the Chinese government the way to govern its country?

JJYOU:

na who upset my brother today? you just dey fight every where.

JustGood:

Perhaps you did not get my drift. The questions were meant to make you think about your statement. You have concluded that is is alright for the UK to do the same thing that you seem to want to condemn China for. So you need to ask yourself who determines the right way to do anything in this world? Why cant the Chinese government decide how it wants to rule its Nation? Why must the Chinese government do things exactly the same way that the UK and US governments are doing things?

Does it not also amount to encroachment to try and tell the Chinese government the way to govern its country?

ElRazur:

It represses, gags and encrouch on freedom. Fundamental human freedom. The Uk have proper courts and laws where things can be challenged. When it comes to controlling citizens, comparing china with Uk is not a fair comparison. No?

ElRazur:

Not entirely true to say they do the SAME THING.

Finally, I am referring you back to my orginal point which I made about china. Note that my comment was focused on what this debate was about - China

A point which you initially disagree with, but then indirectly agree with later.

ElRazur:

I think the actual focus is about how China actively control and have massive grip on the information highway. A breach in free trades agreements.

Do people not make porn movies in china? Or you think there isn't already a pornographic or sex trade industry there?

JustGood:

I never vex bro.

I just dont like Nigerian becoming apologists for anyone.

JustGood:

They still have the right to decide what they allow into their country. Google has a right to sue over it, doesn't it?

ElRazur:

Say what? You asked a question you got an answer. Can we stick to the points at hand instead of[b] bringing in another "Biina style" of questioning "authority".
[/b]
Where have I determine what is good for other nations specifically? Gosh.

ElRazur:

T[b]his is not about porn[/b], this is about China wanting to control everything its citizens are doing.

tpiah:

American porn will only make the Chinese lust after Americans and undermine the govt. That's not patriotic.

biina:

@Elrazur
Quicksand is you grasping at the state of democracy in China, when the original issue was simply about China's right to control what comes into its borders (a right exercised by several other countries). From your first post you sought to broaden the issue by stating thatand yet after several posts, you are yet to address the fundamental question of if China has the right to bar external porn on its network.

Anyways, feel free to tell yourself anything that makes you sleep at night, but be rest assured that whenever you do make another unsubstantiated claim on an issue you know little to nothing about, if I am aware, I will not hesitate to take you up on it.

It is nothing personal, and is not about if I agree with the position or not, but that people refrain from making unqualified statements with much prejudice and little information, stating them like if they were the gospel truth.

Chinese authorities have been forced into a last-minute climbdown over a plan to force manufacturers to bundle internet filtering software into every new personal computer sold in the country.

PC-makers would have been required to install the Green Dam Youth Escort filter in every machine produced for sale in China from tomorrow.

But with just hours to go before the introduction of the hastily-announced rules, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology bowed to public anger over censorship and criticism from the US and industry groups, who condemned the move as politically intrusive, technically flawed and commercially unfair.

Green Dam blocks some pornography, but also scoops up politically sensitive terms. For example, it blocks the cartoon cat Garfield due to filters set to block “white” images” as well as “yellow” – the Chinese term for pornography.

It also bars the film star Johnny Depp and socialite Paris Hilton but is far less strict when it comes to allowing images of naked black girls to slip through. Apparently the word "black" is not on the lengthy list of banned terms.

Most worryingly, Green Dam leaves computers vulnerable to outside attack, although its manufacturer had pledged to plug those weaknesses.

JustGood:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8118055.stm

US objects to China's net filter

The US has called on China to scrap its plan to put net-filtering software on all its computers.

It said that China's proposals would violate its free trade obligations, weaken computer security and raise serious censorship concerns.

China has demanded that all computers come supplied with software called Green Dam from 1 July, which it says would filter out pornographic content.

The proposals have been criticised even within China.

The US's objections also came a day after it filed an unfair trade complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over raw material exports.

The latest comment raises the concern about a broader trade war between the US and China over everything from computer security to chicken poultry imports.

'Unjustified'

"Mandating technically flawed Green Dam software and denying manufacturers and consumers freedom to select filtering software is an unnecessary and unjustified means to achieve that objective, and poses a serious barrier to trade," said US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

The US is now complaining that putting such pressure on manufacturers to pre-install or supply the software would violate China's WTO free trade obligations.

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

The Green Dam Youth Escort software was created to stop people looking at "offensive" content such as pornographic or violent websites, China has said.

But China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology later said that use of the software was not compulsory and that it was possible to uninstall the program.

Tests carried out on Green Dam outside China also showed that it left PCs open to many different security risks, including being hijacked.

Petitions calling for Green Dam to be scrapped have circulated widely within China, which has the world's largest net-using population.

Meanwhile, it appeared that China had blocked users of Google in China from using the search engine.

Users in Beijing and Shanghai said they could not access Google's main site, its Chinese-language version nor its mail services.

"We have found that Google has spread a lot of pornographic content, which is a serious violation of Chinese laws and regulations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

He urged the company to abide by local rules, but said he had no specific details on the outage.

The disruption comes a week after China accused Google of deliberately linking to "pornographic and vulgar" content and ordered it to stop.

Google said it was looking to why there was an outage.