Sony now including "Green Dam" filtering software on PCs sold in China

Well, there was some evidence earlier this month that some piracy issues in China's mandated "Green Dam" content-filtering software could cause PC exports to the country to be stalled, but it looks like Sony has now gone ahead and included the software on its PCs regardless, albeit with a few major caveats. According to the document above (included with a VAIO PC sold in the country, and translated by RConversation's Rebecca MacKinnon), Sony says that it is including the software "in accordance with government requirements," but that it "cannot guarantee the authenticity, legality, or compatibility of the software's content, function, service or any other feature." It's also apparently only including the program on the hard drive and providing installation instructions, rather than providing it completely pre-installed itself. Still no word from any of the other major PC manufacturers, it seems, but you can be sure this won't be the last word on the matter.

[Via TG Daily]

[OneLove @ Jun 29th 2009 8:25PM]

蛋糕是一個謊言！

[XIYL @ Jun 29th 2009 8:54PM]

没有任何真正的，我认为这一次。

[Ypoknons @ Jun 29th 2009 8:56PM]

Eh? They banned "cake" as a dirty word? And all the cute pigs?

I actually really like the way Sony is doing this. If you want to continue doing business with China under this government you have bundle it, but they're not preinstalling and forcing the software on people.

That said, if this continues, Broadway, Fortress Chuen Yuen in Hong Kong will be happy to see mainland tourists any Green Dam free computers they want...

[Ypoknons @ Jun 29th 2009 8:56PM]

Eh? They banned "cake" as a dirty word? And all the cute pigs?

I actually really like the way Sony is doing this. If you want to continue doing business with China under this government you have bundle it, but they're not preinstalling and forcing the software on people.

That said, if this continues, Broadway, Fortress Chuen Yuen in Hong Kong will be happy to sell mainland tourists any Green Dam free computers they want...

[Ari @ Jun 29th 2009 8:25PM]

Not that I buy Sony hardware now, but this clinches any future purchases.

[bhtooefr @ Jun 29th 2009 8:53PM]

Somehow I'm not surprised that Sony included a rootkit on one of their machines. I mean, they've never included a rootkit with anything before. (I'm still boycotting Sony for THAT one.)

[Cheesus(Crust) @ Jun 29th 2009 10:35PM]

Leave it turds to boycott Sony for a reason that doesn't affect THEM at all!
Stupid Xbox360 fanboys(not necessarily, but usually the case for Sony hate)

[Zorque @ Jun 29th 2009 11:09PM]

Look at the bad comment above mine. Yep, that sure is a bad comment.

[Rob @ Jun 30th 2009 2:07AM]

I think all OEMs are forced to include this on their hardware effective July 1 (by the Chinese Government). Acer has already announced that it will comply with this and the rest will follow I'm sure.

This really isn't Sony's fault at all but the article insinuates that it is (unfortunately).

[Excelsium @ Jun 29th 2009 8:29PM]

a bit like Gundam? o,o

[Jimmy Jones @ Jun 29th 2009 8:30PM]

Precisely what happens when the govt takes over people's freedom in the 21st century...... :-)

I wonder what's stopping a few elites from wiping the whole hdd clean assuming the software is pre-installed.

[Tommo @ Jun 29th 2009 8:31PM]

Why cant the Chinese government just let its citizens be free to protest, they can just ignore them like they do over here instead of going to all this trouble.

[John @ Jun 30th 2009 12:17AM]

because contrary to what you seem to want to believe, you have it a lot better in this country than most people in China do and you CAN change the government, for better or for worse. No matter what, you can say "well it sucks now but in four years, it'll be different".

[GRAMMAR POLICE @ Jun 29th 2009 8:31PM]

Hey China...

...what the fuck?

[jay jay @ Jun 29th 2009 8:39PM]

this will never work china your trying to oppress 1.4billion people your citizens will either:
1) reinstall a windows os pirated from torrents that doesn't have that software install.
2) download and install a linux distro
3)so Chinese hacker will figure out how to work around it.

[The Dude @ Jun 29th 2009 11:33PM]

Comrade, didn't you know? Political dissent and questions are decadent! Boobies are also counter-revolutionary!

[Roger @ Jun 29th 2009 8:47PM]

This shit cost Chinese Government over 40 million !!!!!!
just let it go......

[cperry91 @ Jun 29th 2009 9:20PM]

That's 40 Million Yuan, not $$, big difference. But I agree, let it go, it's ridiculous.

[Taylor @ Jun 29th 2009 11:35PM]

Yeah, to put it in perspective 40 million Chinese yuan is equal to about 5.8536 million U.S. dollars - which is certainly a big amount, but nothing compared to, say, the bail-outs of Obama, or the cost of the War in Iraq under Bush.

(See that? I insulted BOTH parties!)

[Monkey with glasses @ Jun 29th 2009 8:51PM]

Me Chinese, me play joke, me take away all your hope.

[Richard Lai @ Jun 29th 2009 8:51PM]

Seems like there is a way round the Green Dam: according to the statement at the top of Sony's document, Green Dam is not supported on 64-bit OS, so you just need to choose the right OS when purchasing the machine, or buy and install your own 64-bit OS afterwards.

But it's only a matter of time before a 64-bit version of Green Dam is released.

[BrianM @ Jun 30th 2009 12:24AM]

/sarcasm
Well at least China is a country that respect intellectual propert laws and does not have tons of pirated OS software that could simply be used to wipe the drive and install an OS without Green Dam, Heck they do not even have people who can figure out software protection schemes and simply remove Green Dam outright...but then what would protect the children from the evils of porn...
/end sarcasm

[Alex Padilla @ Jun 29th 2009 9:02PM]

Monster cables may suck, but I think we can all agree that the Chinese government sucks the most!

[telepheedian @ Jun 29th 2009 10:27PM]

Bricks may be hard, but I think we can all agree that bacon is delicious!

[andres @ Jun 29th 2009 11:39PM]

haikus are easy
but some dont make sense
refridgerator

[congoose @ Jun 30th 2009 12:51AM]

@andres, 5-7-5 buddy. 5-7-5...

[mian @ Jun 30th 2009 1:07AM]

but it's funny

Haikus are easy,
but some do not make much sense.
Refrigerator.

Now how about some sort of seasonal allusion?

[Greg @ Jun 29th 2009 9:06PM]

Somebody explain this to me. "PC exports to the country" means PCs going in or out?

[Trevor @ Jun 29th 2009 9:08PM]

PCs going into China from other countries.

[Greg @ Jun 29th 2009 9:09PM]

Got it, thanks.

Aren't most PCs made *in* China, though?

[Alan Erickson @ Jun 29th 2009 9:13PM]

So Sony who is always so self righteous about copyrights ships pirated software. I think it is fairly safe to say that about the only thing Sony cares about is the almighty dollar, and that they could care less about artists and only care about getting their money. Include me in as someone who avoids Sony products.

[crescentdavid @ Jun 29th 2009 9:21PM]

are you even on this planet?

[simon @ Jun 29th 2009 11:24PM]

Bacause, after all, the other companies that get discussed here at Engadget like Apple, MS, Nokia, RIM etc are all altruistic and would prefer to be paid with sunshine and lollipops...

[scabby @ Jun 29th 2009 9:16PM]

I write this while fixing someone else's P-O-S Sony: China, you can have this overrated crap hardware to go w/ your repressive regime and censorware. Good luck when it's not just one citizen (or was it "comrade"?) standing in front of your tanks.

PS Oh, and by the way, your Green Dam is full of holes: http://www.cse.umich.edu/~jhalderm/pub/gd/. Have fun storming the castle, comrades!

[htd @ Jun 29th 2009 9:20PM]

dam!

[mithinco @ Jun 29th 2009 10:02PM]

Hot dam Van Dam do something about this!

[The Dude @ Jun 29th 2009 9:23PM]

...
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."
...

- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/29/AR2009062900403.html

[CL @ Jun 29th 2009 9:50PM]

Sounds like computer salesmen are universally clueless, not just the Best Buy employees in the US that don't know anything about what they are selling.

[idiscuss @ Jun 29th 2009 9:37PM]

Come on, give Sony some credit, the software was not even pre-installed on the machine, and they provided uninstall instructions just in case someone is stupid enough to install this thing on their own.

[Bob @ Jun 29th 2009 10:01PM]

They'll always bow to pressure from mother china.

[Alex @ Jun 29th 2009 10:07PM]

I love all the Green Dam fan arts.

[kenneth0320 @ Jun 29th 2009 10:16PM]

it can be uninstalled anyway, why so serious?

[AayJay @ Jun 30th 2009 12:32AM]

yes, but... there will be 5x~6x files, including the main program, left deep in the system ...

[John Cavanagh @ Jun 30th 2009 2:56AM]

Actually the software isn't installed to begin with, and doing so is entirely optional. No one is being forced to USE the software. Manufacturers need only include the setup files on their systems or provide it on a disk.

[啸 @ Jun 29th 2009 11:11PM]

可以卸载吗？那还好。这东西不知被大家鄙视成啥样了

[Al Bundy @ Jun 29th 2009 11:37PM]

all this to stop people for watching pr0n?

Confucius say:

Youwa watcha pr0n, youwa die!

Youwa wacka wacka, youwa die!

Play starcraft foe one month non-stop, youwa die!

[shade88 @ Jun 30th 2009 12:31AM]

dam filtering software.

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

If you actually seen this piece of shit software, it looks like some shitty project from a highschool programming class. Its so shitty that when replying to the allegation of it being EXTREMELY vulnerable to hackers, a spokesperson from the company said, "oh we are aware of this problem and we are fixing it, but to be earnest we are making a filtering software and safety is really not our concern..." WTF?? Is this a joke? I guess we all overestimated China's ability to do anything right, except for their fireworks.

[kenneth0320 @ Jul 1st 2009 8:05PM]

to be honest, some media really do irritate me at some points, especially when news from china are partly posted on purpose and they are being so subjective

u know what?
someone omit the last but the most important bit of the whole statement

the PC are provided a pdf document, the software guide) telling you how to uninstalled the green dam!

[simbr @ Jun 30th 2009 3:24AM]

Green Dam? Damn.