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Despite vague promises of Internet freedoms expressed by authorities prior to, and during, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, new Chinese Web filtering software appears to have a decided political edge.
Img: Chinese hacker. Credit: James Sarmiento/flickr
The software, which is required on all new PCs, has the ability to block more than just pornography. Key political words and phrases are included in the software, which code experts claim will allow the Chinese government to increase its political censorship.
Keyword content coverage, "[is] very big -- much, much bigger than those related to pornographic content," Beijing blogger Shi Zhao was reported as saying by the Wall Street Journal.
He also said the software, known as Green Dam-Youth Escort, covered the Chinese phrases for "'6-4 massacre' -- a reference to the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989 -- and 'the celebration of Tibetan people,'" the report continues.
The Chinese administration is justifying the software as promoting the "healthy development of the internet" and to "effectively manage harmful material for the public and prevent it from being spread."
However, a BBC report has revealed that the software contains flaws that could expose PCs to the chance of being penetrated by malicious hackers.
The article quotes Isaac Mao, a blogger and social entrepreneur in China, and a research fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, as saying a number of "serious flaws" had been uncovered.
Mr. Mao told BBC News that certain communication between the servers and the software was unencrypted, thereby allowing a hacker access. He described the flaw as having the possibility to cause a "large scale disaster."
The new regulations introduced by the government require that all PCs bought in China after June 30 must include the protective software.
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