June 10, 2009 by Jenny Sanderson
As of the first of next month, the Chinese Government will be requiring all new PCs to be loaded with state issued software, blocking certain websites considered inappropriate. The government is claiming that the move is aimed at protecting children and young people from some of the more harmful content available online, though many have suggested it might be more about controlling access to subversive sites not considered to be ‘in the public interest.’
The software, named ‘Green Dam Youth Escort’ works by accessing a central database of banned websites and then blocking internet users from accessing those sites. The programme’s aim is, according to a government notice issued in May, “Constructing a green, healthy, and harmonious Internet environment, and preventing harmful information on the Internet from influencing and poisoning young people.”
This news comes in the wake of last week’s anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, during which China was rumoured to have blocked access to sites like YouTube, Twitter, Flickr etc., to attempt to prevent any non stage-managed information about the event filtering through to the public.
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