China's compulsory software issue= someone went for a trial

[wyq614]

In China if your Internet privacy is respected, it is just because you have already had your computer bought before July 1st, 2009~

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8091044.stm

corresponding Chinese language report:

http://news.163.com/09/0609/14/5BCGT3NQ000120GU.html

[brunota2003]

"Oops...I think the software just deleted itself."

[coriolis]

Today, pornography and violence. Tomorrow, political dissident sites. The next day, religious sites. Then alternative lifestyles. The possibilities are endless.

[Squarethecircle]

I'm sure the more inventive among them will figure a way around it (after all, there are 1000000000+ over there - I'd be surprised if no one could fix the problem).

This is not a good sign for the end of communism in China.

[DanKellFla]

Has this made older computers more valuable?
What a crock. That software will be defeated in a matter of weeks, if not hours by some clever programmer. And in the matter of pornography, people will always find a way to get it.

[gtalum]

Communism in China is long gone. They're communist in name only. Totalitarian, fascist, and extremely capitalist. That's China today.

[wyq614]

Oficial: No Internet Users Monitored

Things changed when strong voice of opposition ocurred in Chinese Internet communities as well as an editorial of the China Youth Daily posted against this motion.

The responsible (of the Ministry of Engineering and Information) claims that the users can decide themselves whether they want to install it or not, and the software is not designed to monitor Internet users, nor collect users' private information.

Report in Chinese: http://news.163.com/09/0610/07/5BE8QDSH000120GR.html


However, a Beijing user of this software who desired to install it for a test said that the Uninstall program packed with the software does not function completely, the data uploading part of the software will remain working in the computer.

Lenovo, a domestic brand which occupied most market share of Chinese-made laptop PC, refused to comment on this rule. Haier claims they put this software in its software package (which means the user will decide whether to choose to install it or not), meanwhile, the Hewlett-Packard it to seek cooperation with the government on this issue.

[Derek Ortt]

China is not Communist any more (some Communist party members from China that I know are not too thrilled about that).

They are a good old fashioned 1 party dictatorship (though they are just a little left of a true fascist state... see Russia for that)

[Squarethecircle]

Economically China is a socialist state. It is becoming capitalist, true, but to say that it is anything more than partially capitalist is just not correct.

[Derek Ortt]

Economically China is a socialist state. It is becoming capitalist, true, but to say that it is anything more than partially capitalist is just not correct.

that is not accurate. Yes, they still have intense regulation, but the days of Communism are LONG gone. I have family who routinely do busines there

[Squarethecircle]

Major industries are state-owned. That's socialism. Period.

[Derek Ortt]

many are not

[Squarethecircle]

But that's my point, it's still partially socialist. What I'm trying to say is that it's not helpful to the movement towards capitalism. I hold no illusions that China is close to being a full communist or socialist state.

[Derek Ortt]

political freedom is not necessary to make the transition toward a full capitalist society. Many capitalist states were and still are also dictatorships

[Ptarmigan]

China is more statist.

[Squarethecircle]

In theory, controlling their domestic internet could be construed as ownership of a piece of the private sector. But that's more me being paranoid than anything else, though the movement towards totalitarianism is more unsettling.

[wyq614]

A trial of the Green-Dam Software
Software name: Green-Dam
Version: 3.71
My Trial experience:

Once the download finished I started to install the software. I could not really choose anything because the software was set to be installed into the archive C:/Windows/System32.... Well I rebooted the computer and thus started my trial.

a. Pornographic websites:
As soon as I finished starting the computer, I opened the pornographic website "New sweet lovers" that I know well. I checked the Green-Dam log and it said: Normal website "xxx.xxx.com", the pornographic pictures of this website could be well browsed without any barrier, and nothing was done by the Green-Dam

Surprised enough, I opened another thread posted with pornographic pictures, this time the software reacted and reported "BAD PICTURES FOUND" and blocked the pictures. But the website was not blocked and other contents can be browsed.

And I tried to read some pornographic novels, this time the reaction was quick, it read "BLOCKED WORDS: xxxxxx" and immediately closed the browser. Attention: What it closed is not only the website, but the whole browser.

I opened the browser again, and just found that the "Sweet lovers" set was not in the black list and can be loaded again.

b. Global Times

Global Times is a pro-government subordinate press of the Xinhua News Agency. The homepage was reported as "normal", but something really anormal happened next.

When I opened the image webpage of Global Times, an alert appears: BAD IMAGE FOUND, but it was a normal image just with a woman in it... Personally I see nothing unusual.

And this time, the software went impatient, it read "By the image Analysis http://www.huanqiu.com has been located into black list.", I tried to reopen it but the browser said: Page cannot be displayed. (Mourn for the Xinhua News Agency)

c. Other feelings

The software slowed down my computer, with CPU of 2G and a memory of 512MB, I must wait a long long time to open a single website. Besides, since I installed the software, my CPU occupation rate keeps at 100%

d. conclusion

The Green-Dam software cannot completely block pornographic website, but a Xinhua Press website can be blocked easily..