The Chinese (government) is trying to force makers of personal computers to provide censorship software with every PC (sold) in the country from next month.
The move is being presented as an (attempt) to protect children from online pornography but is raising suspicion that Beijing could be trying to take its internet censorship to a new level. In recent weeks, China blocked (access) to many websites, including Hotmail and Twitter, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the (suppression) of the Tiananmen Square protests.
In a notice to PC makers, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said all PCs shipped in China needed to (offer) Green Dam/Youth Escort, identified as a “green internet filtering software”, either pre-installed or as part of basic (software) packages.
“We are aware of this policy,” said Sharon Zhang, a Dell (spokeswoman) in China. “Along with the rest of the industry and relevant trade associations, we are studying it and working with relevant government and other parties to (seek) clarifications.”
The notice is an attempt to push (through) a policy decided more than a year ago but delayed partly because of resistance from PC makers. In May 2008, the government (picked) Jinhui Technology and Dazheng Language Technology, two Chinese software companies, in a Rmb 41m tender to develop the software, (according to) a contract award notice from the MIIT.
All new computers sold in China were then (due to) be packaged with Green Dam software but this was delayed as PC makers demanded longer testing periods, said Bryan Zhan, Jinhui chief executive.
Last month the government (required) all primary and middle schools to install the software.
PCs also have to be (bundled) with Green Dam software to be eligible for the government's subsidy programme for computers for rural households.
Mr Zhan rejected the idea that Green Dam could be used for anything other than blocking (pornography). He insisted his company's product worked through a picture recognition mechanism. However, an engineer at a PC company said he could not exclude the possibility that the software could also be used to block (content) or websites considered politically subversive by the Chinese government.
China has the world's largest internet population with about 300m users. But Beijing censors the internet (widely) by blocking entire websites, forcing hosts to censor content and using paid bloggers who speak up for the government.
The existence of these activities often discredits Beijing's attempts to (protect) under-age web users from non-political (harmful) content.
Question)
1. What are the bad influences of online pornography?
2. Do you think it's necessary to safeguard a clean Internet environment ?
