Sun, Jun 28, 2009 page11

• Firms pressure China to drop Web filter

  ‘SERIOUS BARRIER’: Twenty-two chambers of commerce and trade groups added to the pressure on Beijing by submitting a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

  • AP
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  Global business groups have made an unusual direct appeal to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) to scrap an order for PC makers to supply controversial Internet filtering software, citing security and privacy concerns.

  Just days before the deadline to comply with the order, the letter from 22 chambers of commerce and trade groups representing the world’s major technology suppliers adds to pressure on Beijing to halt the plan following protest by the US.

  The order requires manufacturers to pre-install or supply “Green Dam Youth Escort” software with PCs made for sale in China beginning on Wednesday.

  “The Green Dam mandate raises significant questions of security, privacy, system reliability, the free flow of information and user choice,” said the letter dated Friday. It appealed to Wen to “reconsider implementing the Green Dam requirements.”

  Such a direct appeal to Chinese leaders is highly unusual.

  Companies usually avoid commenting publicly on government policy for fear of retaliation.

  The letter was signed by leaders of the American, European and Japanese chambers of commerce in China, the US National Association of Manufacturers and trade groups representing the world’s major technology suppliers.

  The filter “seems to run counter to China’s important goal of becoming a vibrant and dynamic information-based society,” the letter said.

  Chinese authorities say the “Green Dam” system is needed to block access to violent and obscene material. But analysts who have reviewed the program say it also contains code to filter out material the government considers politically objectionable.

  The system also has been criticized by free-speech advocates and some of China’s 298 million Internet users.

  A spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Commerce said she had not heard about the letter and declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was not in charge of the issue.

  Top US trade officials have called on Beijing to revoke the order requiring the filtering software, calling it a “serious barrier to trade” and citing security concerns. They said Beijing might have violated its WTO commitments by failing to give companies adequate advance notice and time to comment.

  The conflict reflects the clash between the government’s efforts to control information and China’s high-tech ambitions. China has assembled the world’s most extensive system of Internet monitoring and filtering, but the new software system would take the controls to a new level, placing monitoring technology inside the individual’s computer.

  The Green Dam plan has raised questions about whether the software, produced by a Chinese company, might cause technical problems and how customers abroad will react to companies cooperating with Beijing’s censorship.

  Researchers at the University of Michigan who studied Green Dam say they found “serious security vulnerabilities due to programming errors” that could allow any Web site a user visits to take control of a PC.
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