China delays Green Dam initiation

China has placed a temporary delay on the country wide installation of a new Internet filtering software hours before it was set to deploy, according to state media sources.

Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology delayed the launch, citing the extensive time required for the full pre-installation to complete.

The news source did not release a new timetable for the software installation but it was met with positive responses from critics, who felt the security filter was simply another way for the harshly restrictive Chinese Government to control the Internet.

The Chinese government rejected the claims in Xinhua, stating they were irresponsible claims and that the software was a protection matter not a restriction of privacy.

Previous to the delay, the software, known as the Green Dam Youth Escort software, was to be pre-installed or packaged on a disc with every computer that was sold and shipped into China.

Foreign countries responded favourably with President Ed Black of the Computer and Communications Industry Association calling the delay a part of an issue that is historic in nature and aimed at the struggle between repression and openness in China and surrounding territories of Iran and North Korea.

The European Commission also released a statement from spokesman Martin Selmayr who said that the delay does not change the view of the organization towards the Green Dam software: that it is intended to limit expression and censor the government.

China claims the software is intended to help parents censor the internet for their children and protect them from violence and pornography.

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