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Domestic Reports Detail Net Filtering
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has spent RMB 41.79 million for exclusive rights to "Green Dam Youth Escort" (Green Dam) Internet filtration software and plans to provide it to users nationwide free of charge, reports Southern Metropolitan Daily. The MIIT chose the software's two developers, Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering Company and Bejing Dazheng Language Knowledge Processing Technology Company, as its providers in July 2008, said the report.
Starting July 1, the MIIT will require Green Dam to be preinstalled in China-made computers before they leave the factory, while imported computers must install the software before sale, reports people.com.cn. The MIIT and several other government departments required the software to be installed in elementary and middle schools nationwide by the end of May, while computers that qualify for the appliances to the countryside program, which offers rural consumers a 13% rebate on certain electronics and home appliance purchases, were previously required to install the software, said the report. Currently, Green Dam has been installed more than 50 million times in China, said the report.
Consumers will have the option to activate or remove the software from their computers, according to Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering Company General Manager Zhang Chenming quoted by the Southern Metropolitan Daily in a separate report. An MIIT chief told the paper that Green Dam will not monitor user behavior or collect any user information. In an interview with the Southern Metropolitan Daily, a software program manager, surnamed Di, did not rule out the possibility that the MIIT will charge for the software after its one-year free period expires.
According to an MIIT chief, the government's goal of installing the software is to protect young people from the influence of harmful online content, reports The Beijing News citing Xinhua News Agency. By late May, 106 domestic sites offered downloads of Green Dam, and the product had been installed in 2.62 million computers in 20,967 schools and campuses in 36 provinces, said the report.
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