| On 08.14.09, In Uncategorized, by rohit |
China today backed of its previous plans to implement a rule mandating all computers be sold with internet filtering software, with a senior official saying Thursday the software was optional for all users. Li Yizhong, China’s industry and information technology minister, said at a press conference, that the news rule was misinterpreted and the Green Dam Youth Escort program installation was not required on every new computer.
China had earlier this year made it mandatory for all computers to either have the software preinstalled, or its setup files accompanied on a compact disc or pre-installed on all new personal computers sold in Mainland China, including those imported from abroad. End users, however, are not under mandate to run the software.
Green Dam Youth Escort
According to Chinese officials the software was specifically aimed at restricting online pornography but Michigan University research showed otherwise.
On 11 June 2009, Scott Wolchok, Randy Yao, and J. Alex Halderman from the University of Michigan published an analysis of Green Dam Youth Escort. They located various security vulnerabilities that can allow “malicious sites to steal private data, send spam, or enlist the computer in a botnet” and “the software makers or others to install malicious code during the update process”. They recommended that users uninstall the software immediately for protection.
Green Dam Youth Escort could automatically downloads the latest updates of a list of prohibited sites from an online database, and also collects private user data. This created a huge international uproar and even domestic internet users started rallying against the government. Besides the fact that the software was riddled with software defects.
Inspite of China not making it mandatory to install the software anymore (Except for schools and internet cafes, who would still be required to install it), Asian brands Sony, Acer, Asus, BenQ and Lenovo etc. are shipping the software as was originally ordered.
Leave Your Response