Legality of China Web Filter Is Challenged
6/15/09 Source: Wsj.com
BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese state media defended Friday a new directive that PCs sold in the country must come with Internet filtering software, as concern mounted in China that it violates personal privacy.
Computer makers have been told that all personal computers sold from July 1 must be shipped with anti-pornography software, a move that trade and rights groups have said is a bid by Beijing to further tighten Internet controls.
But the state-run Liberation Daily newspaper said Friday the move was consistent with laws aimed at shielding young people from harmful influences.
“The state encourages research into Internet products that help minors surf the web in a healthy manner,” it said.
The report marked the latest state media defence of the Green Dam Youth Escort software that has been blasted by rights groups as an attempt by China to filter sensitive websites since the rule was revealed early this week.
China has the world’s largest online population at nearly 300 million and authorities have a history of blocking sites they deem politically unacceptable or offensive, a system that is dubbed the “Great firewall of China”.
But a study by researchers at the University of Michigan said the software contained “serious security vulnerabilities.”
It said these could “allow remote parties” to “take control of the computer.”
“We found these problems with less than 12 hours of testing, and we believe they may be only the tip of the iceberg,” said the report posted on the website of the university’s computer science school.
It added that the software’s text filter blocked words that included obscenities and politically sensitive phrases such as references to the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong.
Li Fangping, a Beijing-based rights lawyer, told AFP he had submitted a request to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to hold a hearing to explain the exact nature of the software before July 1.
“As netizens, after installing the software, will information be blocked, will our safety and our privacy be protected? These three issues they should explain and answer,” he told AFP.
“There needs to be a consultation with experts, lawyers, netizens, and technical staff,” he said.
The new rule has come in for an unusual amount of criticism in previous state newspaper articles.
The China Youth Daily questioned the software in an article published Wednesday.
“Does such a notice have a legal foundation? Which law grants the ministry this type of right?” it said.
Friday’s Liberation Daily report quoted Hao Xianghong, head of the China Youth Internet Association, as saying that 80 percent of primary and middle schools in the country had already installed the software.
“That means more than 20,000 schools, and according to feedback, they are generally satisfied,” he was quoted as saying.
A report by the official Xinhua news agency also said Friday that around four million computers in primary and secondary schools in Shanghai would be equipped with the software by the end of the month.
