China shuts down 91 websites containing pornography

January 13th, 2009 BEIJING - China Wednesday shut down 84 additional websites for containing 'pornographic and lewd content' in its month-long campaign against online porn, bringing the number of blocked sites to 175. The Special Operation Office said in a statement that government departments would step up efforts to continue to close illegal websites and 'severe penalties' would be meted out to violators of law.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US trade officials sent a letter to their Chinese counterparts Wednesday urging them to revoke an order that requires a controversial internet filtering software to be installed on computers. The Green Dam software, which China will require on all new computers from July 1, could be used to restrict free speech and raises questions about free trade, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a letter to the Chinese government.

June 9th, 2009 China defends Web-filtering software requirementBEIJING — China on Tuesday defended a new requirement that personal computers sold in the country carry a software that filters online content, saying the program is targeted at preventing the spread of pornography and other "unhealthy" content. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology posted on its Web site Tuesday a notice to all PC makers that they will be required to pre-load the "Green Dam-Youth Escort" filtering software on units to be sold in China as of July 1, including imported PCs.

July 2nd, 2009 SHANGHAI - Under the controversial Green Dam computer program, China has already installed censorship software in over half-a-million computers. According to a report in The Telegraph, the Green Dam program has been downloaded three million times since the end of March and has been installed on 518,000 computers.

June 16th, 2009 BEIJING - Customers purchasing computers in China will have the option of buying or not buying government-sponsored porn-filtering software, an official has said. The China Daily quoted the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)official as saying: "PC makers are only required to save the setup files of the program in the hard drives of the computers, or provide CD-ROMs containing the program with their PC packages." The users have the final say on the installation of the Green Dam-Youth Escort, so it is misleading to say the government compels PC users to use the software, the official clarified.

June 30th, 2009 China scraps filtering software mandate _ for nowBEIJING — China's state media says the government will postpone enforcement of a new rule mandating all new computers be sold with a filtering software. The rule was to go into effect starting Wednesday, but the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report late Tuesday that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had decided to delay the plan.

August 14th, 2009 BEIJING - A senior Chinese government official has said that the implementation of the "Green Dam Youth Escort" software, which filters online pornographic, was "not thoughtful enough". The government had demanded in May, through a directive issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), that all personal computer manufacturers should ensure that the filtering software was included with all computers sold in China by July 1.

August 17th, 2009 Dell developing smart phone for China MobileROUND ROCK, Texas — PC maker Dell Inc. is working on a smart phone for China Mobile Ltd., China's biggest cell phone carrier.

January 28th, 2009 BANGKOK - About 2,300 websites have been blocked for not showing respect to the monarchy, Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhage said Thursday. On Jan 8, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tasked the ministries of justice, the information and communication technology, and defence with forming a committee to clamp down on the websites having words or images insulting the monarchy, according to the Bangkok Post website.

June 19th, 2009 Google to step up anti-porn efforts in ChinaBEIJING — Google Inc. said Friday that it was working to block pornography reaching users of its Chinese service after a mainland watchdog found the search engine turned up large numbers of links to obscene and vulgar sites.

August 13th, 2009 BEIJING - China's Industry and Information Technology Minister Li Yizhong has said that the "Green Dam Youth Escort" software would now be "voluntary", providing users an opportunity to decide if they want to install it or not. "When users buy computers, they will be provided the software disk.

March 27th, 2009 A teenager from New Jersey has been arrested after she uploaded 30 nude photos of herself to her MySpace page, and is now facing child pornography charges. The 14-year-old girl had posted the pictures to a social networking site "because she wanted her boyfriend to see them," a police spokesman revealed.

March 26th, 2009 LONDON - A US Defence Department report has said that China is developing "disruptive" technologies for nuclear, space and cyber warfare, resulting in the shifting of military balance in Asia which would have implications beyond the region. The Pentagon report criticises Beijing again for showing no transparency in reporting on its military spending and security policy, but welcomed the rise of a peaceful, stable and prosperous China.

April 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - China has denied hacking into America's electrical grid, as media reports claimed that Chinese cyber-spies penetrated the US electrical grid. "The intrusion doesn't exist at all," Xinhua quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu, as saying.

June 25th, 2009 China accuses Google of spreading pornographyBEIJING — China accused Google Inc. on Thursday of spreading pornography after Chinese users were unable to connect to the search giant's Web site, while Washington called on Beijing to scrap its order for personal computers to be equipped with Internet-filtering software.