June 18, 2009 by James Oliver
Earlier this week the Chinese Government appeared to have reconsidered their controversial policy of requiring their ‘Green Dam Youth Escort,’ internet filtering software to be installed in all computers sold in Chine. However now, US computer makers are saying that they have done no such thing and that they have seen no change in policy from the Chinese authorities, though Hewlett Packard and Dell, amongst others, have reportedly attempted to get them to reconsider the policy.
After an angry reception from many Chinese computer users, it seemed that the government had mellowed their stance earlier in the week. Many sources reported that the software could be either loaded onto the hard drive or provided on a CD and would be able to be uninstalled. Now, however it seems that is not so certain.
The authorities in China are insisting that the software is primarily intended as a tool for protecting children from pornography though freedom of speech advocates insist that the authorities are curtailing human rights and awarding themselves too much power over their citizens’ access to information.
The system is also thought not to be particularly effective. According to various sources, it often recognises pictures of pigs as naked human skin and can be exploited by hackers with relative ease.
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