US makes official complaint to China over internet censorship
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China has ordered PC makers to load internet filtering software from a Chinese company, Green Dam, on all machines that go on sale in China from July 1. While officially directed at filtering out pornographic material, the order has raised concerns that it could give officials a far more powerful tool for blocking political content.
"We view with concern any attempt to restrict the free flow of information; efforts to filter internet content are incompatible with China's aspirations to build a modern, information-based economy and society," said Ian Kelly, a state department spokesman.
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Chinese officials took action against Google late last week, ordering the search company to block access to international sites. Beijing said the action was a punishment for linking to pornographic material, though US internet executives say it was designed to direct public anger against a foreign internet service and distract attention from the Green Dam affair.
PC makers face an additional dilemma over deciding whether to install the software following a claim by Solid Oak, a California software company, that much of the code has been copied directly from its own internet filtering product.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3b3bd546-5ec5-11de-91ad-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1Security tools for cheap crap: what an astonishing bargain communism and fascism have struck to pacify and control their populations. Make business, not war?