Great Firewall of China Blocks Google for Pornography

by peder.sande | June 19, 2009 at 03:25 pm

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Google China has received harsh criticism from the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC) for violating regulations to keep overseas pornography out of China. China has gone further by securing anti-pornography software on all personal computers shipped on July 1 and onwards.

"Google China's website has not installed filters to block pornography in accordance with the laws and regulations of our nation," the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre (CIIRC) said in a statement.

As of June 19, China has told Google to stop all local user access from international websites. Chinese officials have "punished" Google for allowing pornographic content to be leaked into China. China's zeal for censorship is no secret to internet users; however, reports of pornography on Baidu, a local rival, with no subsequent shutdown of traffic raises eyebrows.

Beijing has ordered Google to stop local users of its Chinese-language service accessing overseas websites

Update: China has now postponed the requirement for all computers sold in the country to have installed a functioning copy of the Green Dam Youth Escort software.

China's state media says the government has postponed a rule mandating all computers be sold with internet filtering software.

Unfortunately Sony has already started shipping computers with the software. It is unclear if the software will be taken off these computers.

"Sony is now shipping computers in China with Green Dam installed, in advance of the Chinese government's July 1 deadline. But the company is disclaiming responsibility for any damage caused by the Web filtering software. Documents posted by Hong Kong-based media studies professor Rebecca MacKinnon also suggest that the Chinese government is considering similar filtering requirements for mobile phones."