China backs down on July 1 mandate for Green Dam

by Steve Ragan - Jul 1 2009, 17:30

China has pushed back their mandated timeline for filtering software that was to be preinstalled on new computers entering the country for sale. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Tuesday that the reasoning for the backtracking, what they call a delay, was because PC manufacturers needed more time. The MIIT did not issue a new deadline or mention one in their press release.

Green Dam, the software that seeks to block violence and pornographic materials, as well as help parents limit Internet usage, caused a stir for several reasons, mostly because the Chinese government mandated that all new computers sold in the country have it preinstalled. Adding to the issues were the fact that many saw this as a blatant attempt for more censorship as it blocked keywords that were deemed politically sensitive. In short, Green Dam is nothing more than China layering its practice of censorship.

The idea that China wanted to force preinstalled filtering software wasn’t a big deal really. If you have followed developments regarding China and Internet usage, you already know the government wants an Internet they can control completely, and thanks to a few businesses helping them limit access, (Google anyone?) for the most part they have gotten their way. Things for Green Dam, officially called Green Dam-Youth Escort, got worse when it was discovered to be riddled with security holes, and contained stolen code.

The stolen code, developed originally by Solid Oak Software for their CYBERSitter filtering application, made its way into Green Dam by unknown sources. Reverse engineering is seen as the likely cause, but no one knows who stole the code or how, just that it was ripped and used. To make matters worse, the code stolen was outdated.

Solid Oak had to contact the FBI last week, asking for help after a series of Spear Phishing, or targeted Phishing, attacks aimed at company executives. The emails contained Malware and documents written in Chinese. Was this retaliation? Maybe, but aside from the language used, there doesn't seem to be any evidence one way or another.

However, Solid Oak software could be the reason for the recent backtracks on the July 1 mandate for Green Dam. The company had threatened legal action against any PC maker who shipped their stolen code overseas. If that is the case, there’s no doubt that a good number of PC users would like to thank them for the stance they took.

As mentioned, the July 1 mandate has been called off, perhaps never to return. However, the software is still available for download and will be installed on computers in schools and Internet bars the MIIT said.

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