Recent Results tagged “greendamyouthescort”
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Only 5% of kids against Green Dam... but wait!
Official media said yesterday that a recently released survey found that only 5% of youth were actually against the Green Dam, according to the SCMP. But take a look at the survey: 1,000 pupils around China, aged six to 13, were asked whether Green Dam Youth Escort was a good thing. Pollsters had to then explain to the kids what the internet, filtering software and pornography (aaawwwkwaaard) were. Of the respondants, only 14% actually...
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Gov't admits Green Dam wasn't great
We all knew it, but it's still nice to hear it coming from the top. Li Yizhong, Minister of industry and information technology, has admitted that the failed launch of that widely protested Green Dam Youth Escort was kind of a mistake. Li said that the order that went out sounded too much like the ministry was bullying people to install the program, but that had never been the government's intention. He then followed...
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Dialogue of the Day: BBC grills Qin Gang
Quentin Sommerville, BBC News: Qin Gang, do you have children? [laughter] Qin Gang (秦刚), Foreign Ministry spokesman: [nods affirmative] Quentin Sommerville: I ask you because a few weeks ago, you asked my colleague whether he had children when he asked a question about Green Dam Youth Escort. And you said that the Green Dam Youth Escort is essential to protect the children of China, and my colleague would of course understand that if he...
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Break out the champagne! Green Dam delayed!
Hurrah! China has decided to delay indefinitely its plans to force manufacturers to include that Green Dam Youth Escort software on new computers, just hours before the policy was supposed to start. Their reasoning: "Some businesses pointed out the heavy amount of work, time pressures and lack of preparation." The news comes days after various international organizations petitioned the Party, begging for it to rethink the regulations, and PC makers have said that they...
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Dear China: Can we just drop this Green Dam business?
In a surprising twist to the Green Dam software controversy, a direct letter was submitted on Friday to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asking the government to "reconsider implementing the Green Dam requirements". Signed by the heads of 22 international organizations, including the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the European-American Business Council, and the National Foreign Trade Council, the letter is a not often seen public confrontation of Chinese leadership. One official noted the...
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Green Dam makers getting harassed
Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co. is now getting constantly harassed for creating the Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software that'll be distributed with all new computers next week. According to GM Zhang Chenmin, over 1000 harassing phone calls were made to the company this month, and one even threatened to kill his wife and child. "Most of the calls came late at night, cursing our staff and uttering obscenities, voicing their resentment against the...
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Ai Weiwei protesting Green Dam with internet blackout
Oh that troublesome Ai Weiwei! Not content to stick to taking subversive pictures around Tiananmen Square or investigating Sichuan Earthquake victims, he's now starting internet blackout protest days! The contemporary artist/activist has now called for all surfers to stay offline on July 1, the day when manufacturers must startshipping computers with that Green Dam-Youth Escort program preinstalled. According to the South China Morning Post (paywalled): Outspoken Beijing artist Ai Weiwei, who helped design the...
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Today's Links: More on the green dam, "Buying China," and sex change guidelines
Computer-makers fight China's filter order [SFGate] "Responding to another citizens' revolt, 4,000 miles from Tehran, China reportedly won't force individual computer users to install software to filter out "harmful" stuff. But it has not backed down on its order that, as of July 1, all PCs sold in China must have such software installed. That, as we've noted, puts No. 1 U.S. seller of PCs in China, Palo Alto's Hewlett-Packard Co., in a serious...
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Green Dam plan withdrawn due to public pressure
Looks like public opinion against the Green Dam Youth Escort software, including the non-stop foreign media coverage and the numerous internet petitions, has finally convinced the government that maybe it shouldn't make the install mandatory. And good thing too: BusinessWeek reports that a closer look at the Green Dam software is much more than a program to block web porn. Researchers found that the program will automatically shut down programs based on keystroke combinations...
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Green Dam software actually pirated?
So not only is the Green Dam firewall software filled with whopping security flaws, it now looks like it's not even original code. The Jinhui Computer System Engineering Company, creator of Green Dam, is now being accused of using stolen intellectual property from the American firm Solid Oak Software. The Green Dam software is meant to filter the web and mainly focuses on porn. According to Solid Oak, the Chinese company has taken substantial...
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The Green Dam that broke the GFW's back: grassroots backlash
Well, one can always hope. The debate is heating up. Yesterday, a Beijing based lawyer Li Fangping sent a request to the Ministry of Industry and Information asking for information about the Green Dam Youth Escort software: the reasons for its development, the legal basis for the order to have Green Dam and Youth Escort pre-installed in PCs, etc. As far as we know there is no Freedom of Information Act in China, or...
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Chinese gov't: Green Dam and Youth Escort are your friends
The Chinese government has been drawing a lot fire these last few days after it was revealed that they would be requiring that computers manufactured or imported in China have "Green Dam and Youth Escort"—an internet filtering software—preinstalled. As we mentioned earlier, while many people found this yet another example of government intrusion into the private habits of citizens, while others didn't bother getting their knickers up in a twist. That seems to be...
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The Great Firewall in the Real World: The Green Dam Youth Escort
Yesterday, an MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) directive was leaked to Rebecca MacKinnon of Rconversations that stated that as of 1 July, all computers for distribution in China must have the net nanny software "Green Dam - Youth Escort" pre-installed. The Shanghai Daily reported today that schools in China had already received this directive last month. This news comes after the social media crackdown last week and reports that Twitter and Flickr...
