What was, as of July 1, to be mandatory censorship software installed on all new computers in China, has been indefinitely delayed due to a lack of prep time being given to hardware manufacturers.The 11th hour announcement came late on June 30 via the Government’s official mouthpiece, the Xinhua News Agency. And while a quote from an MIIT spokesperson laid fault of the delay on “computer manufacturers which don’t want to be “hasty” about carrying out the massive installation project“, it’s hard to believe that the immense domestic pressure wasn’t of primary concern.

Surely everyone who stood up and said, “hey, wait a minute… this is stupid,” played a part in causing the broken, stolen and lying piece of software to be aborted before it even truly began? However, personally, I doubt strongly worded letters from international business associations or US trade officials were the key resonating voices of dissent echoing through the halls of Beijing.

No, I think that voice belonged to the Chinese Netizens who were anything but quiet on the matter. From peaceful parties organized by prolific artists/bloggers to hacker attacks and death threats directed at the software’s manufacturer, China’s Internet community made it quite clear that the “well-intentioned” and deeply insidious software was anything but welcome on their personal computers.

Most of the (largely Western) media linked above (or found via a quick Google search) espoused much the opposite, perhaps eager to pat themselves on the back for encouraging a positive blow against censorship. But in a nation that suffers from in-around 100,000 “mass incidents” (a Zhongnanhai euphemism for riots, protests and demonstrations) per year, it is my opinion that the powers that be are more focused on their legitimacy inside their borders than out.

I think those heading up the Green Dam launch realized shortly after its initial announcement the massive mistake it clearly was, and looked for a relatively quiet way to back out. Saying that it was the hardware manufacturers’ problem of not being able to accommodate their request on time would give them a face-saving out that would allow them to shelve the project which after this week will largely be forgotten.

Well, until the Green Diaphragm Child Protector software is launched in 2010.

The new was-said-to-be-mandatory-but-now-isn’t-and-maybe-never-was software, produced for the Chinese Government as a way to protect the world’s most massive population from the evils of fairer skin tones, has everyone up in arms.

Having said my piece on the matter, I thought I would offer up a summary of the latest Green Dam Youth Escort developments since last week’s panic-enduced reporting announcement that it would be mandatory on all new Chinese PCs as of July 1st.

1. Poor programming causing security issues

June 11, 2009–The Computer Science & Engineering Division of the University of Michigan analyzed the software and found that anyone using it is basically putting his personal information and computer security on a platter for malicious Web sites.

“We examined the Green Dam software and found that it contains serious security vulnerabilities due to programming errors. Once Green Dam is installed, any Web site the user visits can exploit these problems to take control of the computer. This could allow malicious sites to steal private data, send spam, or enlist the computer in a botnet. In addition, we found vulnerabilities in the way Green Dam processes blacklist updates that could allow the software makers or others to install malicious code during the update process.

We found these problems with less than 12 hours of testing, and we believe they may be only the tip of the iceberg. Green Dam makes frequent use of unsafe and outdated programming practices that likely introduce numerous other vulnerabilities. Correcting these problems will require extensive changes to the software and careful retesting. In the meantime, we recommend that users protect themselves by uninstalling Green Dam immediately.”

June 17, 2009–Jiangmin, a large Chinese antivirus software developer, backs up the U. of M. crew’s analysis (source: ChinaTechNews):

“The company said that the loophole exists in the filtering function of the software. If users open some specially set Web pages when the filtering function is active, the loophole will appear in the buffer of the relevant module. Taking advantage of this loophole, hackers can reportedly place trojans on these Web pages and spread viruses. Computers attacked by virus will have the risks of serious information leak or remotely controlled by hackers.”

2. Chinese Netizens’ criticisms

According to polls on China’s top portals, more than 80 percent object to the software being preinstalled on their new PCs. An anti-Green Dam petition was created at the cleverly domained www.lssw365.org (the official Green Dam Youth Escort site’s domain is www.lssw365.net).

Additionally, Li Fangping, a Beijing-based rights lawyer who made a name for himself during the milk scandal last fall, has sent a request to the Ministry of Industry and Information (MIIT) inquiring into the software, its reasons for development and the legal basis behind requiring it be preinstalled (source).

A good portion of the anger about the software is not just directed at the potential invasion of privacy or censorship, but rather questioning why it cost nearly 42 million yuan (about US$6 million) of tax payer money to develop software that was overwhelmingly unwanted.

But the best, or at least most interesting, criticisms have come from creative Netizens who have put their imaginations to the task with some satirical and humorously artistic creations protesting the intrusive software, including a whole series of “Green Dam Girl (???)” cartoons, like this one:

Green Dam Girl, badged with the River Crab emblem, and carrying Green Dam Youth Escort bunny mascots and a "sealed-off" banner.

4. Protection from spiritual movements and pig porn

And while praise for the product is a bit short on the ground, some have argued that principally it has the right idea. The staff at ChinaTechNews argued earlier this week that the software is a necessary step in getting China’s horribly under-secured Internet under control.

“In China, the effect of thousands of computers which do not have properly installed security software has already caused mass outages and Internet disruptions. Chinese domain name service registrar DNSPod last month reported activities that affected its services and caused network outages in various provinces; Internet users in Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangxi, Henan, Gansu, and Zhejiang reported that they suffered slow Internet speeds or were unable to visit some Web sites. Green Dam stops porn, but it has the potential to truly aid users from visiting other potentially unsafe areas on the Web.”

But for that to happen, the software actually needs to be secure, which if you’ll refer back to point number one above, it seems it isn’t.

What’s more, despite repeated claims that it is not at all intended for political censorship by the software’s developer, as well as various high-ups in Beijing, there have been claims that Chinese hackers have accessed Green Dam‘s keyword blacklist and it contains 2,700 some-odd terms related to pornography, and an additional 6,500 that are “politically sensitive”.

And if that wasn’t enough to make everyone using the software scramble for the “uninstall” command, it doesn’t even block porn properly! The software uses an algorithm that analyzes skin-colored images combined with facial (snicker, snicker) recognition software to determine what is porn and what isn’t. But like anything that you leave a robot to figure out, they’re bound to mess it up. Stupid robots.

Somewhat famously now, it has been reported that the software is quite comfortable with 10-year-olds looking at pornography as long as the objects of their gaze are of the “darker” skinned variety (which Green Dam ignores), while all kids hoping to find images of, say, pigs or Garfield, will be denied.

Piggy porn, according to the Green Dam software

5. Crafted from stolen code and data

So, we have an unwanted piece of software billed to the taxpayer for the pricey sum of US$6 million, that instead of securing the cleanliness of your child’s Internet experience, blocks images of pigs and cats while leaving your computer and its data open to malicious attacks.

But wait, it gets more amusing worse. It turns out that large amounts of the software’s data libraries were lifted verbatim from the censorship program CyberSitter by Solid Oak Software Inc., violating that company’s copyright. Additionally, Green Dam primarily uses OpenCV, an open source computer vision product (that technically should be blamed for the piggy mixup above). Use of OpenCV requires adherence to its BSD license, a fact that Green Dam developers have neglected to do–which is sad really, because it’s a hugely open license and doesn’t take much to meet the neccessary requirements.

6. Monitoring your every move long after it’s “gone”

The Wikileaks.org article linked to above also explained in its analysis of the software that Green Dam Youth Escort doesn’t just stop your Internet browser from visiting skin-showing Web sites, it also monitors a large number of other applications on your computer.

Should you happen to enter any of the 2,700 pornographic words or 6,500 politically sensitive ones, the program shuts down without so much as a “we’re not even going to save that for you” warning. Apparently, kids aren’t allowed to write any dirty emails, either.

A list of the programs being monitored in the current version of Green Dam can be found here–virtually all common PC word processors, text editors, office suites, email clients, instant messaging programs and browsers are being watched.

Fortunately, if you’ve had the bad luck to get a new PC with this garbage preinstalled, you can just uninstall it, right? Well, so says the company. However, according to a computer expert, only the user interface is disabled when using the Green Dam uninstaller: “About half of Green Dam‘s 110 system files continued to reside in the computer. After restarting the computer, Green Dam‘s screening program is running actively in the background.” It should be stated though, that this information comes from The Epoch Times, a creditable source only in its own mind.

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And so, that about sums it up. Green Dam Youth Escort–it doesn’t do what it should, it does what it shouldn’t, it’s made from stolen software, and it’s despised by the people for whom it was built and paid for by.

To borrow a phrase from the always au courant Imagethief–Green Dam Youth Escort is, in short, crapware.

And just as the sun was beginning to shine on my online experience, I get this news:

China squeezes PC makers: Beijing is set to require Web filter that would censor “harmful” Internet sites.As of July 1, the Chinese Government is requiring all personal computers that are sold in the country to be shipped with Big Brother-like software that blocks access to certain Web sites.

The software’s Chinese name is “Green Dam-Youth Escort”. The word “green” in Chinese is used to describe Web surfing free from pornography and other illicit content. Green Dam would link PCs with a regularly updated database of banned sites and block access to those addresses, according to an official who tested the product for a government agency.

As a proud owner of three bought-in-China computers, frequenter of Chinese Web sites and having had to endure several China Telecom in-house “setups”, I’ve reached a level of stony stoicism toward the endless bits of “ware” this country is desperate to install on my computer under the guise of it being in my “best interests”.

However, this feels a step too far and reeks of deviousness. The official line for the software is to protect China’s youth against the evils of bare flesh, and yet everyone involved seems to be detracting attention from the fact that:

1. It was developed by two software companies (Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co. and Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy Co.) with close ties (and past experience) working with the technology wing of the People’s Liberation Army.
2. It doesn’t just block Web sites, but collects personally identifiable information (presumably about Web surfing habits and blocked Web site access attempts).
3. If the only sites deemed sensitive to Chinese eyes were porn, I’d be able to get on WordPress.com, Youtube.com and Blogspot.com–as they all have clear policies against pornography.

Now, perhaps I’m worrying too much about this. Maybe it isn’t some Orwellian software invasion. According to the notice sent to PC manufacturers, the only requirement is that the software be shipped with new computers–it isn’t necessary for it to be preinstalled.

But then why is it being mandated at a government level? If it’s only required to be available to the end user, why would the Government invest money in its development? Why strain relations with the global tech sector by requring them on such short notice to include untested software with their product? Why feed the already negative international opinion about Chinese Internet censorship? Why do all of that just to, seemingly, give parents a government-endorsed “choice” of parental controls?

I wish I knew, but I really can’t see this announcement as anything but absolute buffoonery.

There is not a situation I can think of whereby I feel a person should have their ability to speak on any topic they desire taken away from them.

I don’t care if you are regurgitating the most vile and racist profanities that your ignorant mind can think of – there’s not a person on this planet that should have the power or privilege to tell you what you can and cannot say.

Unfortunately, the robots that govern the country I call home often see things differently. And so it is I am happy to announce my first WordPress plugin:

(as in, don’t be so damn censortive).

I’ve been denied access to my own site a number of times because something I’ve written, or something someone’s said in the comments has been deemed “unfit for the eyes of the peons” by the dorks that govern “The Switch”.

However, I’ve found a way around it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and they may damn well be right. This plugin uses text-to-image technology to convert pre-defined words into image files that look darn similar to the original text. By doing so, the robots that censor Web pages are unable to “see” the offending words (as they’re not words, but images).

This plugin is perfect for anyone that tends to get caught in the cross-fire of what vocabulary is Commie-kosher and what is tripping up the censors. Now when I want to speak about the and or what happened on in , I can and my blog’s not going to get shutdown because of it.

If you blog via WordPress and you suffer from the same censorship woes that I do, I encourage you to check out this plugin. There’s more information on how it works on the official Censortive homepage, including an explanation of how it uses codewords so that the offending words don’t ever touch your database or URL (for an extra layer of blocking prevention).

It’s still very much in beta testing, and I welcome any feedback or bugs you may find.

Cross posted at Lost Laowai