So Long Green Dam

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 07:38 am GMT -5 in News Briefs by Michael Cervieri

Reuters reports that Chinese schools are removing Green Dam software from their computers:

Schools in Beijing are quietly removing the Green Dam filter, which was required for all school computers in July, due to complaints over problems with the software.

China last month formally backed down on a plan to preinstall the Internet filter software on all new computers sold in the country after July 1 after an international and domestic outcry.

A June WSJ article provides a good backgrounder on the issue:

…it would be naïve to think that scrapping the Green Dam mandate means the end of headaches for computer- and device-makers world-wide. More and more governments — including democracies like Britain, Australia and Germany — are trying to control public behavior online, especially by exerting pressure on Internet service providers. Green Dam has only exposed the next frontier in these efforts: the personal computer.