China filter software

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's latest Internet controls have been assailed by rights advocates and Washington, and yet the real challenge to its "Green Dam" plan may be the nation's own computer market, an anarchic digital bazaar.

Starting from Wednesday, the government has ordered that personal computers sold in China must leave manufacturers with Green Dam filter software intended to block obscene images and, critics say, deter political dissent.

Such schemes sound easy enough for a one-party state, and this is just the latest Communist Party initiative to control the Internet, which has about 300 million users in China, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

But a walk through Zhongguancun district in northwest Beijing, hub of the nation's digital market, and the hurdles to such controls seem as numerous as the shops and hawkers selling computers, software and pornography.

For all the domestic and international uproar about Green Dam, many retailers here who will be selling computers packaged with it were either oblivious or dismissive.

"What's Green Dam?," said Wu Baobao, a woman in her 20s who was selling Dell laptops in the raucous Hailong electronics mall.

"When you buy a computer after July 1 it will come with the software," she added after asking a colleague in a neighbouring stall. "But don't worry ... we can take it out easily."

Multi-nationals have for years fretted about the inability of the Chinese government to stamp out pirate software sold for a fraction of the cost of legitimate copies.

Now that unruly market may also frustrate censors and ensure Green Dam ends up more often junked or ignored than used.

"The Green Dam plan is a serious violation of market rules. Governments shouldn't impose a particular brand of software," said Mao Shoulong, professor of public policy at Renmin University, just down the road from Zhongguancun.

"But in practice the impact will be limited," said Mao. "It's optional software, and you can't easily control such a fragmented retail sector. Big companies will follow orders, but who can just order around thousands of small ones?"

Zhongguancun in Beijing's university district promotes itself as China's "Silicon Valley." Microsoft, Google and plenty of other digital giants have research labs or big offices there.

But the digital retail sector that has sprung up since the 1980s resembles more of a vast, multi-storey bazaar, with big-name retailers jammed up against stalls and furtive hawkers.

Until the financial crisis hit, business was booming. In 2008, Zhongguancun recorded 60 billion yuan ($8.8 billion) in sales of digital products. That was 4.5 percent more than in 2007, ending a long run of double-digit growth, according to the Zhongguancun Electronic Trade Chamber of Commerce.

The district has 3,147 registered electronics retailers who last year sold 2.4 million personal computers, the Chamber told Reuters. But there may be even more uncounted stalls.

The district has attempted to clean up, and pirate software is not as openly sold as a few years ago. But it is certainly still there, as is the pornography Beijing wants to block.

On street curbs, dozens of people, mostly ragged women clutching babies or small children, approach passersby urgently whispering that they can sell pornographic DVD discs. The babies are meant to deter police from carrying out body searches.

A brisk walk with one of the women through a warren of dirt-floor alleys and run-down brick huts soon brings the prospective customer to stashes of luridly titled videos.

Yang Fuying, a gangly salesman in the Beijing Silicon Valley Computer City, said business was too tough to spare much thought about the government's Green Dam plans.

"Mid-year is always a low season, and the financial crisis has made things worse," said Yang. "We'll have to tell customers about the software, but I don't think it will have much impact. You can either tear it out or dump the disc. So what?"


from the washington post

China likely to deny buyer’s bid to acquire Hummer

BEIJING — China’s planning agency is likely to reject a Chinese company’s bid to acquire General Motors Corp.’s Hummer unit on the grounds that its hulking SUVs conflict with Beijing’s energy-saving goals, state radio reported.

The National Development and Reform Commission also is likely to say the Chinese buyer, a maker of construction machinery, lacks the expertise to run Hummer, China National Radio said late Thursday. It cited no source for the information.

Foreign acquisitions in China require regulatory approval. The government has said environmental criteria have risen in importance in vetting potential industrial projects.

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp., a private company, emerged as the surprise prospective buyer of Hummer this month after GM sought court protection from its creditors. Both companies refused to say how much the Chinese company offered.

Hummer is one of the best-known brands that a Chinese company has tried to buy.



by the associated press

Challenging China Internet filter

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese lawyer has demanded a public hearing to reconsider a government demand that all new personal computers carry Internet filtering software, adding to uproar over a plan critics say is ineffective and intrusive.

Li Fangping, a Beijing human rights advocate who often embraces controversial causes, has asked the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to allow hearings on the "lawfulness and reasonableness" of the demand, which takes effect from July 1 and was publicized only this week.

"This administrative action lacks a legal basis," Li wrote in a submission to the ministry that was sent to reporters by email on Thursday.

"Designating that the same software must be installed in all computers affects citizens' rights to choose."

Li's demand, and denunciations of the plan from Chinese rights groups, have expanded a public battle over the "Green Dam" filtering software, despite a state media effort to promote the software as a welcome way to prevent children being exposed to pornography.

Many citizens worry such software and other measures are being imposed to deter discussion of sensitive political topics, especially in this year of controversial anniversaries, Li told Reuters.

"Above all, we're concerned about freedom of speech and the right to know," he said. "We know that citizens have been prosecuted because of their private emails, and we're worried about more such cases."

Chinese human rights and gay advocacy groups have demanded the software plan be immediately quashed.

A statement from five groups sent by email said the software threatened to cripple access to many of the gay community websites that have flourished in recent years.

The software works by judging whether website pages may show large amounts of exposed flesh.

Wan Yanhai, a leader of the Beijing-based Aizhixing organization, which works on AIDS and gay rights, said he was preparing a mass petition to mobilize opposition to the software.

"We need to demand not just the lifting of this software decree, but also an end to restrictions on gay publications," Wan told Reuters. "This is about opposing censorship."

Chinese state media have promoted the compulsory installation plan as an effective way to staunch the flow of pornography, which is banned in China but widely available.

"If you have children or are expecting a child you could understand the concerns of the parents over unhealthy online content," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters on Tuesday.

State television news said the software can be shut off and erased if users choose, and does not collect personal information.

China is one of the world's fastest-growing PC markets, and has hundreds of millions of Internet users. Research firm Gartner forecasts total PC shipments will climb by about 3 percent this year to more than 42 million units.

Li, the rights lawyer, said the ruling Communist Party is especially wary of dissent and controversy this year, the 20th anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy protests ended by a bloody crackdown.

"How the government responds in the end will depend on the response from Chinese Internet-users," he said. "If it's strong, they'll back down, and may let the plan quietly die."



from the washinton post