A top Beijing official said yesterday that a controversial Internet filter software was optional for all users after plans to install it on computers sold in China triggered a storm of protest.
“After you install the software, you can use it or you can decide not to use it,” Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong (李毅中) said.
“When you buy a computer, a floppy disk or CD [with the software] is given out, and the right to choose resides with the parent, with society,” he told reporters in Beijing.
News in June that all computer makers had been ordered to install the software caused an outcry in China and abroad, with critics accusing the government of trying to increase controls online.
Beijing consistently countered that the filter was designed to shelter youngsters from pornography and violence and to give parents control over what their children view online.
But China abruptly postponed the plan on the eve of July 1, when it had planned to implement the rule.
Li said China would not force all computer makers to pre-install the software — called Green Dam Youth Escort — on the machines.
He acknowledged that the plan had not been explained well enough and said China would solicit public view on the software.
But he said China would continue to load it in public places such as schools and Internet cafes.
The ministry is working to enhance the capability of the software, which has the ability to filter out 90 percent of information including pornography, he said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS