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Despite the delay in China's requirement to install Green Dam Web-filtering software on all new PCs, the controversy is not dead. PC makers are including the software with new PCs even though the July 1 deadline has been postponed indefinitely.On Thursday, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told China Daily that the mandate has not been canceled, only delayed. News media reported that China definitely plans to require Green Dam.In addition, Green Dam publisher Jinhui Computer System Engineering is reportedly testing a version for Apple's Mac computers, which so far have been exempt.China says the Green Dam-Youth Escort software is meant to protect young people from pornography and violence on the Web. However, opponents say it would be used for political repression. A survey found that many Chinese would not pay for the software after a one-year free trial period.China originally directed all PC makers to pre-install Green Dam on all PCs sold in China, with a July 1 deadline. However, the ministry delayed the deadline on June 30. Earlier, it had modified its mandate to say that the Green Dam CDs could be included with new PCs rather than pre-installed.Multiple tests found the software vulnerable to malware, and Sony has included a disclaimer about the software with its PCs. Tests also showed Green Dam blocked images of cartoon cat Garfield and roast pork, and returned links to both soft- and hard-core pornography.
While the entire tech world seemed focused on Apple during the iPad rollout, Google just kept serving in silence, keeping the innovation engines running without distraction.I sure enjoyed the iPad rollout. Although I was a little underwhelmed, I enjoyed watching the presentation and reading about it and enjoyed some good editorials by friends on Facebook. [...]Related posts:Google Apps: The Missing ManualGoogle App Engine: CTOs should check it outGoogle Surprise: A change in intent regarding Chinaread more
I have been loosely following the Google case where Google stated or did not state that they are withdrawing from China or at least closing down google.cn and as a result probably has to close the office totally as Google is vocally opposing the Chinese Government's Internet regulation and policy.. I am not sure what Google wants to achieve or think they can achieve but I am 100% confident that the Chinese will not back off; particularly when been 'attacked' openly. There are a few points to this story that I think is important to understand. For Google, privacy and confidentially are at the forefront of whatever they do. Consumers need to completely trust Google given that vast information that Google collects, analyze and monetize through various source (searches, clicks, gmail and so forth). If consumers starts to believe that Google may start censuring information on government demands (e.g. patriotic act), sharing data with intelligence bureaus to catch criminals, consumers may very quickly abandon Google services. Consumer confidence would be the key priority to protect the business. However, the Chinese representatives made an interesting point. Why did Google filter off search results for American military bases (based on US Government directive) but not Chinese directives? If this turns out to a trade-war, China will never back and it will not only hurt Google's interests in China but also other american interests in the region. And that brings me to another point that successful American companies often seems to struggle with in China - patience and understanding of how to deal with the Chinese market. Look at Qualcomm and Microsoft. Two highly successful American businesses with strong leaderships (Dr Jacobs and Gates/Ballmar) but struggled for years to break into China. Qualcomm and Microsoft fired their Country Managers on a yearly basis due to the lack of progress. And of course, the issue was not local management but how the Corporate were working and what they were expecting. Qualcomm promoted Frank Meng and Microsoft recruited Tim Chen (an old Motorola China-hand) that managed to bridge and work between the local government and headquartered. Tim told me the other day in a closed room conference that the key to success for him was to sign off a China Strategy that was taken to the Board for approvals. Tim left Microsoft after 4 years successful putting MIcrosoft on the map in China. Frank is still in charge, 6 years after promotion, where Qualcomm has developed decent business in China. In the Google case, where key biz dev managers and Country Managers left on a regular bi-annual basis may point to one of the problems for Google's China problem. I think Google was taken off-guard about the effect from their initial announcement. China Unicom blocked the launch of Motorola's and Samsung's Android handsets. Will China Mobile be challenged as well with their OPhones (based on Android)? Can Google maintain R&D and sales of ads? For China, the case must be a bit annoying and this could be the starting point for massive internal complaints and discussion. Not only is it high profile international case and it will cause problems for how to attract and keep innovative R&D to China if this goes on. But the internal discussion are more about filtering and censuring content, public and private discussion and that can turn out to an avalanche as at the same time, MIIT has enforced SMS screening of all SMS sent in China to monitor and blocked sensitive content (in this case, pornographic material). What's causing the debate is the screening, the filtering and why the Government should decide what is acceptable or not. The Green Dame project were supposed to have the same effect but after heavy objections, the government withdrew. Can the same result happen for Google and the SMS filtering? "We made a strong decision that we wish to remain in China," [Erik] Schmidt said. "We like the business opportunities there. We'd like to do that on somewhat different terms than we have." (AP) http://tr.im/M3yZ Google.com is now blocked. You can not connect to google.com from phones nor from computers. Google states that they wanna stay in China but can they?read more
CIA's Technology Arm Taps Open Source for Enterprise Search - PC World
SYS-CON Media (press release)Several PC makers were including controversial Internet-filtering software with computers shipped in China on Thursday despite a government decision to postpone its plan to make such a step mandatory.Beijing's decision this week to delay the requirement that the filtering software -- known as Green Dam -- be pre-installed or supplied on disk with all computers sold in China averted a possible trade clash with the United States and Europe. But the move by some makers to include the software anyway could re-ignite complaints by Chinese Web users.Also Thursday, a government newspaper said regulators will revive the plan to make Green Dam mandatory at some point, a move that would disappoint opponents who hoped the government would drop the effort.Taiwan's Acer Inc. -- the world's No. 3 PC maker -- Sony Corp. and China's Haier Group said they were shipping Green Dam on disks with computers for sale in China. China's Lenovo Group, the No. 4 producer, said it would offer the software pre-installed or on disk. Taiwan's Asus Inc. said it was preparing to supply Green Dam disks with PCs. Taiwanese laptop maker BenQ Inc. said the system was on the hard drives of its computers.Acer was supplying Green Dam because disks were already packed with PCs before the government postponed the plan, that had been due to take effect Wednesday, said a company spokeswoman, Meng Lei. Lenovo said it also was going ahead with plans made before the Green Dam order was postponed.Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's top PC manufacturer, said it was working with the U.S. government to get more information and declined to comment further. No. 2 Dell Inc. said it was not including Green Dam with its PCs.Chinese authorities said the software is needed to shield children from violent and obscene material online. But experts who examined...
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