The unexpected decision was announced through the regime’s state run media Xinhua News Agency on June 30, one day before the plan’s scheduled starting date on July 1.
The reason given by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is, “Some enterprises brought up the concern of large work load, short time frame and lack of preparation. Based on their real situation, the mandatory installation of the software will be postponed.”
The regime’s central propaganda department also request all propaganda offices and all mainland media to cooperate with the move by suppressing all criticism the software and providing “positive media guidance.”
MIIT announced its mandatory installation plan on May 19. MIIT insists the regime has no intention to censor information generally, and that the program was designed solely to filter pornography. However, both mainland and overseas computer experts found that Green Dam could not effective block pornography websites, but effectively targeted searches on human rights and political information such as Falun Gong and Chinese democracy.
Further, the software contains security loopholes that make the user vulnerable to hackers. Also, its Chinese developer may face copyrights suit from the California-based software maker Solid Oak Software Inc. for programming code plagiarism.
The proposed mandatory installation of Green Dam software widespread drew criticism from various industrial circles, rights group and foreign governments.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk also urged Beijing to abandon the plan in a letter signed June 24.
On June 16, Global Internet Freedom, a consortium formed by technology companies specializing in circumventing political censorship on Internet by repressive regimes, released its first version of “Green Tsunami,” which could help Chinese user to detect, disable or fully uninstall Green Dam.
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