Asia has seen quite a bit of action on Internet censorship in the last week, with China and Malaysia scaling back their censorship plans while Vietnam increases its control. Although most of the news was good, the region still has some way to go before free speech advocates will feel comfortable.
The highest profile of the three countries is China with its once-mandatory client-side filtering software, “Green Dam Youth Escort.” China’s technology minister, Li Yizhong, claimed to the press this week that the whole alleged requirement was one big “misunderstanding,” and that the software would no longer be required to be installed either by PC makers or by home users.
This claim is disingenuous at best, considering that Chinese officials emphasized for months that the software would be mandatory and must be preinstalled or included on disc with every new PC sold in China—a plan that was suspended on June 30 in order to supposedly give manufacturers more time to comply. The software, which researchers have discovered sports numerous security vulnerabilities, isn’t dead, though, and will still be required in schools and Internet cafes. Some PC vendors are also including it voluntarily with their products.
Originally Syndicated via RSS from Ars Technica – News
