PC exports to China to potentially be blocked due to pirated filtering software

We're not exactly supportive of the Chinese government requiring new PCs to be imported with content-filtering software, but like we keep saying, karma's a bitch: CyberSitter developer Solid Oak says it's found stolen code inside the Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software mandated by Chinese authorities, and it's considering filing a lawsuit to halt shipments. In the meantime, the company has asked heavy hitters like Dell and HP to refrain from installing Green Dam; Dell says it's still reviewing the Chinese requirements and hasn't yet shipped any machines with the software, but some nine million copies of the software have already gone out. For its part, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has "ordered the problem be fixed," but it's unclear when that'll happen -- and it still doesn't change the delicious multilayered irony of Chinese censorship efforts being thwarted by a copyright infringement action.

Update: Things were getting a little out of control down there, so we've disabled comments on this one.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 16th 2009 2:21AM]

Ah, censorship. So pointless, as 99% of the users will uninstall it on the first day.

[Sonic @ Jun 16th 2009 2:24AM]

Except they can't uninstall it, since they are the government's computers...

[Lakis @ Jun 16th 2009 2:52AM]

maybe at least 90% of gov's computer wont install that software,i guess

and acroding to leaked url datebase and fliter list which used by this software,i can say,it's a junk

[Yuriy @ Jun 16th 2009 3:53AM]

they should do that here to protect from porn, hacks and viruses:-)

[Peter @ Jun 16th 2009 4:19AM]

@sonic,
wrong, you CAN uninstall it and its not just for the government's computer. every single computer sold in china is required to have to software installed but theres nothing stopping you from removing it. i am currently staying in beijing and read it from the newspaper.

[tekd @ Jun 16th 2009 6:56AM]

They're *not* required to have the software installed, it just has to ship with the computer. Thus to get it on your computer you would have to go and install it yourself. Of course presumably many people would install it because they have kids, etc. and it's basically a free copy of cyber-sitter lol.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 16th 2009 2:24AM]

I'm pretty sure they are talking about computers sold in China.

[Sonic @ Jun 16th 2009 2:28AM]

Either way, they still have control over the Internet.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 16th 2009 2:32AM]

Yea they do, so i don't see why they need the software on there...
(Though proxy is widely used there)

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jun 16th 2009 2:33AM]

sad.

[LittleB @ Jun 16th 2009 2:38AM]

I'm Chinese but I never think China is civilized. Ppl live with speech/press/Internet access censorship. I'm educated enough to know this kind of government is clear dictatorship.

[Tony Rayo @ Jun 16th 2009 2:40AM]

I personally don't think there is a problem with China itself (although I would never visit/live there as it stands and I'm moving to Japan soon from the U.S. =). because when you phrase it that way you are suggesting that every Chinese person is corrupt and warped to the bone. It's likely the communistic rule that you are against and while there have been some changes for the better over the last decade, it's far from enough.

[Bryan C @ Jun 16th 2009 2:47AM]

Tisk-tisk China!

[JC @ Jun 16th 2009 3:00AM]

Is there a country that exports PCs to China? I thought we get them from China.

[Yuriy @ Jun 16th 2009 3:53AM]

USA - we make in China bring here and ship back because its cheaper here:-)

[Nando @ Jun 16th 2009 3:00AM]

Somos un planeta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSQ2rGmXGkc

[Nando @ Jun 16th 2009 3:08AM]

We are one planet

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewv94lHKEfo
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ppR_OqGJ4E

[basroil @ Jun 16th 2009 3:11AM]

I think those that think censorship is tolerable within a civilized country should take some time to read up just about everything on the web. It's one thing to make laws against certain types of speech (though still a bad thing) and arrest people who knew about the laws after a fair trial (same with peaceful demonstrations), and quite another to prevent it from ever happening. China is trying to do the latter, which is more or less just brainwashing, since people who can't express their opinions tend to lose them or try to escape the system (smuggle to another country, suicide, etc), which in the end removes those opinions regardless. It's more or less ideological inbreeding, yes science can mask some of the effects of long term inbreeding, but the fact doesn't change, and makes everything more unstable in the presence of anything outside that inbred pool (radical islamic factions to the west, north korea to the east, the revival of soviets in the north, mutal destruction by nuclear forces to the south, declining exports and fluctuating world markets, internal balance difficulties should the current leader need to be replaced, all factors that an inflexible society cannot handle as well).

[Miles @ Jun 16th 2009 3:27AM]

I guess they'll be forced to use Macs now.

[BAWWW @ Jun 16th 2009 3:30AM]

AW HELL NAW

[Yuriy @ Jun 16th 2009 3:52AM]

yes you right - i was in China and half of the sites are not working in including my personal e-mail and website - but after i came back i make call to my ISP and they told me that they actually block access from China so i think its not that bad over there - we have to fix here also.

[Bryan C @ Jun 16th 2009 4:31AM]

ROFL!

[redbuta @ Jun 16th 2009 6:22AM]

Nothing about censorship. The technology they are already using for censorship is much more advanced than these craps, and are developed by the National Security Bureau.

It is believed that there are a "small number of people" in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology who are transferring our tax money into their relatives' pockets (who run these daft software companies). As simple as that.

[Randomness @ Jun 16th 2009 6:33AM]

"For its part, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has "ordered the problem be fixed," "

They ordered that the security problem be fixed. Their statement had nothing to do with stolen code, which this blog was about.