China Delaying Green Dam Software

Twenty four hours after Sony's plans for Green Dam surfaces, China announces that it is postponing the controversial program.

Just one day after Sony's plans to ship PCs pre-installed with China's controversial Green Dam Youth Escort software appear online, China has temporarily pulled the plug on its mandated software deadline. As reported today by the Associated Press, China released a two-sentence announcement through the government's Xinhua News Agency, saying that regulators are now delaying the plan. Unfortunately, China did not specify when the plan would eventually resume, if at all, nor did it provide any additional details as to why Green Dam is now on hold.

The original schedule called for PC manufacturers to pre-install Green Dam on new desktops and laptops by July 1. As we've reported over the last few weeks, China has come under fire within and outside the country, with many suspecting that the software may actually record personal data and monitor Internet usage. Free-speech advocates accused China of censorship while security specialists warned of possible issues. But China stood firm on its mandate, and many PC manufacturers such as Sony, Toshiba and Acer were ready to comply.

As stated earlier, China's Green Dam Youth Escort program was promoted to help parents protect young Web surfers from pornographic and other lewd material found on the Internet--one of the many parts in the country's overall plan to block questionable content from its more than 298 million Internet users. However, analysts probing the software also discovered that Green Dam contains code that filters out what China considers politically objectionable material. Currently China already has Green Dam installed on many PCs used in internet cafes.

According to Reuters, California-based Solid Oak Software Inc. is preparing to take legal action against Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co., the developers behind Green Dam. Earlier this month, Solid Oak protested that its Chinese rival stole and implemented its code into Green Dam, and demanded that U.S. PC manufacturers Dell, HP, and Gateway stop shipping computers with the software pre-installed.

'With the cease-and-desist letters, we've asked them to not ship the units as well as make accounting for any units that had been shipped,' Solid Oak spokeswoman Jenna DiPasquale said.

Jinhui naturally denied stealing the code. However, the recent halt in the software's mandatory distribution may be related to Solid Oak's claims against Jinhui. But without further elaboration on part of China and/or Jinhui, this may be merely speculation. Many reports today indicate that China is merely caving in to criticisms from the free-speech advocates, security analysts and industry groups.