China Urged To Scrap Filtering Plan
Foreign trade groups and their counterparts in the United States pressed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday to halt a July 1 mandate for all computers manufactured and sold in China to be shipped with Internet filtering software, which the government has claimed would help protect children from inappropriate content. The letter from the American Chamber of Commerce in China, Business Software Alliance, Business Roundtable, Consumer Electronics Association, Information Technology Industry Council and others says the requirement "raises serious concerns for us and seems to run counter to China's important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society."
The correspondence comes on the heels of a similar message sent to high-level Chinese government officials by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke earlier this week and a letter from business groups the week before. "The Green Dam mandate raises significant questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice," the most recent document said. The letter points out, however, that "effective and responsible parental controls" are the way to go. "Ensuring that our youth can enjoy the full benefit of the Internet while keeping them out of harm's way... is an important objective we all share." Read related coverage in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
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