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China anti-porn software censors more than sex
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| Shakka |
Ran across this article this morning. Just a reminder that China is very much a communist state and at the same time a reminder of how much we take for granted some of our freedoms in the U.S. and elsewhere.
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China Anti-Porn Software Censors More Than Sex
By Mark Lee and Sanchez Wang
June 12 (Bloomberg) -- China’s anti-pornography software that will be loaded in all personal computers sold in the country blocks anti-government Web sites and restricts users from typing in keywords unrelated to sex, a researcher said.
“Green Dam-Youth Escort” restricts access to Web sites about the 1989 Tiananmen Square military crackdown and the banned spiritual movement known as Falun Gong, said Isaac Mao, a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The software also shuts down word-processing applications and Internet-chat services when some keywords are entered, said Mao, who says he’s tested the program.
Bryan Chang, chief executive officer of Jinhui Computer System Engineering Corp., which co-developed the software, said in a June 11 interview the program only blocks pornography. Wang Lijian, a spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, declined to comment today.
The unadvertised features of “Green Dam” indicate China’s stepping up its censorship efforts as the government grapples with surging online use, according to Hong Kong Polytechnic University Associate Professor Korris Chung. China bans online pornography, gambling and politically critical content by requiring all domestic Web sites to be registered and by blocking access to foreign sites such as Google Inc.’s YouTube.
Screening Software
“Having screening software installed on individual computers will really reinforce” attempts to control Internet use in China, said Chung. “China already bans certain Internet sites via network gateways, but there are ways for users to get round them.”
China will require all PCs sold in the nation to include the “Green Dam” software starting July 1 to block Internet pornography and other “unhealthy” online content, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on its Web site this week. The move is part of an effort to “strengthen earlier achievements in cracking down on vulgar Internet content,”
according to the statement.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Chinese government-required Internet filtering software contains political keywords and Web addresses.
The Chinese software filters out pornography by recognizing images deemed to be showing excessive skin, as well as through a list of banned Web sites that’s updated by Zhengzhou, Henan- province-based Jinhui Computer, Chief Executive Chang said.
‘Doesn’t Spy’
“We can 100 percent say the software doesn’t spy on users,” Chang said. “It doesn’t have the capability.”
Still, Chang referred questions about the screening of political sites to “Green Dam” joint developer Beijing Dazheng Language Technology Co. Wang Jingcheng, deputy general manager at Dazheng, won’t give any interviews to the media at this time, his secretary said by phone today.
Typing “F-a-l-u-n D-a-f-a,” an alternate name for the Falun Gong, on Microsoft Corp.’s Word will result in an automatic termination of the word-processing program, according to Berkman Center’s Mao. Similar shutdowns occurred with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Notepad, Wordpad and the MSN instant-messaging service, he said.
“They are monitoring keystrokes and making a decision based on a word it sees,” said Dave Marcus, a security research and communications director at Avert Labs, a division of Santa Clara, California-based McAfee Inc.
“The software is depriving computer users of their right to freedom of information,” Li Fangping, a lawyer with Beijing Ruifeng Law Firm, said by phone today. He said he has filed an application to the Ministry of Industry seeking a public hearing on the adoption of the new requirement. Ministry of Industry spokesman Wang couldn’t immediately comment on Li’s application when reached on his mobile phone.
Hidden Among Microsoft
Also, installing the “Green Dam” software will automatically load its files inside the main Windows directory of a computer, hindering a user’s ability to distinguish which files are from Microsoft’s operating-system program and which are from “Green Dam,” Mao said.
Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s largest PC maker, is working closely with the Information Technology Industry Council to seek additional information, clarify open questions and monitor developments on the matter, the Palo Alto, California- based company said in an e-mail.
Dell Inc. is reviewing the China policy about the software with the rest of the industry, relevant trade associations and government officials to understand its application, said Jess Blackburn, a spokesman for the Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker.
Apple Inc. spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment.
Important Issues
“In this case, we agree with others in the industry and around the world that important issues such as freedom of expression, privacy, system reliability and security need to be properly addressed,” said Kevin Kutz, Microsoft’s director of public affairs.
The Chinese government should reconsider the plan to include the software in newly sold PCs, according to a joint- statement by the Information Technology Industry Council, Software Information Industry Association, TechAmerica and the Telecommunications Industry Association and on June 9.
Twitter Inc.’s social-networking service and Microsoft’s Bing.com were inaccessible in China in the week preceding June 4, the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro- democracy demonstrators. China ranks first worldwide in online censorship, according to Herdict.org, a project of the Berkman Center at Harvard, which compiles reports of Web outages.
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| Halcyon+On+On |
I'd be curious as to how (if at all) the censorship of pornography affects the rate at which sexual assaults occur.
Some argue that pornography largely creates a misogynistic society over a long enough period of time, and that the incidence of rape will indeed decline were pornography prohibited. But just the same, can't you see rape rate rising when guys aren't allowed to get their rocks off to whatever they like? |
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| Shakka |
| I can just imagine trying to write something in Word and typing the word "" only to have my entire system crash. |
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| Arbiter |
| quote: | Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On
Some argue that pornography largely creates a misogynistic society over a long enough period of time, and that the incidence of rape will indeed decline were pornography prohibited. But just the same, can't you see rape rate rising when guys aren't allowed to get their rocks off to whatever they like? |
I doubt there's any significant causal relationship, but prohibitions (and restrictions) on pornography are definitely associated with higher incidence of rape as an empirical matter. My interpretation is that both are symptoms of societies where sexuality is taboo. The greater the taboo, the greater the restrictions on pornography that are likely to exist, and the greater the incidence of rape that can be expected. |
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| Halcyon+On+On |
| quote: | Originally posted by Arbiter
I doubt there's any significant causal relationship, but prohibitions (and restrictions) on pornography are definitely associated with higher incidence of rape as an empirical matter. My interpretation is that both are symptoms of societies where sexuality is taboo. The greater the taboo, the greater the restrictions on pornography that are likely to exist, and the greater the incidence of rape that can be expected. |
That, coupled with their despairing male:female ratio, sounds like either a social disaster that will manifest itself as mass depression, suicide or violent revolution (not likely), or perhaps they will set their sights on nearby nations with more to offer in the velvet cavity department...
//Or they'll only create a large black market for pornography. Incoming state-sponsored executions for pornographers. |
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