GREEN DAM: China Scraps Filtering Software Mandate - For Now

BEIJING — China's state media says the government will postpone enforcement of a new rule mandating all new computers be sold with a filtering software.

The rule was to go into effect starting Wednesday, but the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report late Tuesday that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had decided to delay the plan. It did not say why or give any other details.

Authorities say the filters is needed to shield children from online violence and pornography, but analysts who have examined the system say it also contains code to filter out political material the government dislikes.

Comments

[LMPE]

Marriott wouldn't like it if China censored porn.

[Mondayboy]

Why is the Chinese govt afraid of porn?

[SkipStone]

I think the Chinese realized not only that the filtering software might not work, or might be too restrictive, but that people will find other ways to get what they want, ways that the gov't can't control, like peer-to-peer file sharing.

And I believe Google and other web companies weren't going along with the censorship (without great risk to their credibility and business)

[arvay]

Three cheers for lasciviousness!

The authoritarian mentality will always amaze, it yearns to stop what everyone knows is not stoppable -- in this case, the human urge to look at sexually arousing images. Such images were scratched onto the caves of the Stone Age.

Poor Wen Jiabao. Untold millions and millions of of Chinese men and women are experiencing unauthorized increased blood flow to their naughty parts. And he can't do anything about it. How about his needs? Eh?

Somebody needs to invent a video game for authoritarian leaders, that presents their country as totally obedient, with their lives controlled to the last iota, and cheering hysterically as they obey each and every last stricture.

Everybody is entitled to their fantasies.