In its ongoing effort to regulate citizen access to Internet content, China has announced that all new computers sold in the country will be required to have preinstalled filtering software known as Green Dam-Youth Escort.
According to a statement published in a state-run newspaper, the Liberation Daily, the government's objective is to protect the nation's young people, who are flocking to the Web in ever-increasing numbers. "The state encourages research into Internet products that help minors surf the Web in a healthy manner," the statement said. Requests for additional explanation have gone unanswered.
Not surprisingly, the news of the new mandatory software requirement has generated considerable protest inside and outside of China.
Online Petition
According to The Wall Street Journal, an online petition was launched at midnight on Thursday to protest Green Dam. Although the number of signers is small (just more than a thousand in a nation with more than a billion residents), the comments are openly critical of the government's policy. At least one protester referenced the specter of Big Brother by writing, "I don't want to live in 1984."
While the ostensible purpose of the filtering requirement is to protect children from pornography and violent material (in fairness, similar steps have been proposed in the United States), researchers have discovered that politically sensitive terms are blocked as well.
For instance, efforts to connect to sites about the meditation technique Falun Gong trigger a pop-up message that declares the site harmful and then shuts down the browser. Similar shutdowns occur in response to other phrases deemed subversive by the Chinese government.
Other researchers report that similar shutdowns occur when sensitive terms are typed into various Microsoft  software products, including Word, Notepad and MSN's instant messaging. That implies a degree of keystroke monitoring that may be unprecedented for a central government.
Vulnerabilities, or Backdoors?
Of greater concern to researchers is the possibility that the mandatory software will expose computer users to attacks by malicious software or even remote control by unknown parties.
In less than half a day, researchers at the University of Michigan Computer Science and Engineering Division identified a wide range of vulnerabilities in the Green Dam software.
"Once Green Dam is installed, any Web site the user visits can exploit these problems to take control of the computer," the report says. "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."
The researchers recommend that computer users uninstall the Green Dam software immediately to prevent damage to their computers and loss of data. It seems unlikely, however, that the researchers' recommendation will be endorsed by the Chinese government.
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